Rice paddy metagenome Metagenome. Rice paddy metagenome

It has been well documented that the application of steel slag or slag-based silicate fertilizer can not only improve the fertility of degraded crop land, but also enhance crop productivity and resistance to plant disease. Our understanding on how rhizosphere microbial communities are affected under slag amendment and by plant cultivar (i.e., Indica vs. Japonica rice genotype), and how the structural shifts in rhizosphere microbial communities are linked to the alternations of ecosystem functions are, however, not clear. The aim of the study was to characterize the magnitude of impacts that abiotic factors such as soil pH and nutrient availability and biotic factor such as plant genotypic difference have on rhizosphere bacterial community and potential functional structure under steel slag amendment in a rice cropping system.