An international research team has found the size of microbes in soil is closely related to soil health, according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
Researchers from China, the Netherlands and the United States analyzed soil microbes in more than a dozen rice fields in China and Thailand, said Sun Bo with the Institute of Soil Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Smaller microbes in the soil adapt quickly to environmental changes, while larger microbes are more sensitive to changes, said Sun, the research leader.
The study revealed that the more microbes of a smaller size, the more stably they can improve crop growth.
The research results will help realize scientific soil management and increase crop yields. Unhealthy soils, for example, can be treated by introducing smaller microbes, Sun said. (Xinhua)
In a recent study, researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden showed that multitrophic soil organisms of different body sizes are good predictors of soil biodiversity and are essential to maintain ecosystem multifunctionality in tropical land use systems.
A research team led by LIANG Chao and BAO Xuelian from the Institute of Applied Ecology recently conducted a 10-year experiment in China Mollisol to assess how the frequency and quantity of stover mulching affected the bacterial community, soil health, and crop productivi...
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