Long-term weed control alters arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community and increases wheat yield in a rice-wheat cropping system of East China

Rational weed control in arable land is a key contributor to enhancing the diversity and functionality of beneficial soil microorganism, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). However, little is known about how long-term weed control practices affect the AMF community, especially in rice-wheat double cropping systems. Here, the effects of weed controls on soil properties, AMF community and wheat yield were determined based on a long-term experiment established in 2001 in a rice-wheat cropping system of East China. All weed control treatments include: (ⅰ) CK, no weeding; (ⅱ) MH, manual weeding (M) + herbicide application (H); (ⅲ) WaH, Hindering seeds dispersed from water (Wa) + H; (ⅳ) WaM, Wa + M; (ⅴ) WaMH, Wa + M + H. Results demonstrated that AMF diversity was significantly lower under MH, but not changed under WaH, WaM, or WaMH compared to CK. Meanwhile, AMF diversity was largely affected by total nitrogen and soil organic carbon. Similarly, AMF community composition was markedly affected by total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, available phosphorus, and microbial biomass nitrogen. Moreover, four weeding treatments notably increased wheat yield by 52.6 %-62.2 % compared to CK. Wheat yield was significantly correlated to AMF key indicator taxa. Overall, WaH effectively links soil nutrient dynamics, AMF community characteristics, and wheat productivity in rice-wheat double cropping systems.