Microbial community structure is affected by cropping sequences and poultry litter under long-term no-tillage

Name: Microbial community structure is affected by cropping sequences and poultry litter under long-term no-tillage
Published: 2026-06-26
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) US Department of Agriculture; National Agricultural Library

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Ashworth-PLOT-Jul2019-data-dictionary.csv	text/csv	1.4 KB	06/26/2026 11:31:AM
Ashworth_microbial_data_by_PLOT.csv	text/csv	17.2 KB	06/26/2026 11:31:AM
Ashworth_microbial_data_by_PLOT.xlsx	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet	32.9 KB	06/26/2026 11:31:AM
adc_metadata.json	application/json	23.4 KB	06/26/2026 03:08:PM
catalog_detail.html	text/html	10.9 KB	06/26/2026 11:31:AM

Project Citation:

US Department of Agriculture, and National Agricultural Library. Microbial community structure is affected by cropping sequences and poultry litter under long-term no-tillage. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-06-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/E250280V1

Project Description

Project Title: Microbial community structure is affected by cropping sequences and poultry litter under long-term no-tillage

Summary: Soil microorganisms play essential roles in soil organic matter dynamics and nutrient cycling in agroecosystems and have been used as soil quality indicators. The response of soil microbial communities to land management is complex and the long-term impacts of cropping systems on soil microbes is largely unknown. Therefore, changes in soil bacterial community composition were assessed in response to cropping sequences and bio-covers at long-term no-tillage sites. Main effects of four different cropping sequences of corn (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), and soybean (Glycine max L.) were rotated in four year phases for 12-yrs at two Tennessee Research and Education Centers in a randomized complete block design with split-block treatments of four winter bio-covers: hairy vetch (Vicia villosa L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), poultry litter, and a fallow control. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, bacterial community composition was determined. Composition, diversity, and relative abundance of specific taxa were correlated per cropping system, bio-cover, and their interaction. We found that i) richness and diversity varied temporally and spatially, coinciding with soil carbon, pH, nutrient levels, and climatic variability; ii) community composition varied by cropping system, with continuous corn, soybean, and the corn-soybean rotation presenting a hybrid of the continuous corn and soybean communities; however, continuous cotton resulted in the most varied assemblage; iii) bio-covers asserted the greatest influence on microbial communities; specifically poultry litter treatments differed from cover crops (all of which received inorganic-N). Consequently, microbial diversity was greatest under nutrient rich bio-covers (poultry litter) and high residue producing, less pesticide-intensive cropping sequences (soybean and corn compared to cotton), suggesting a more dynamic soil ecology under these no-till cropping systems. This suggests that nutrient management (inorganic fertilizers vs. animal manure) and greater crop rotations (within 4-yr phases) may directly drive phylogenetic community structure and subsequent ecosystem services across agricultural landscapes.

Resources in this dataset:

Resource Title: Microbial diversity based on crop rotation, cover crop, and poultry litter after 14-years of managment . File Name: Ashworth microbial data by PLOT.xlsx

Resource Title: Microbial diversity based on crop rotation, cover crop, and poultry litter after 14-years of managment .

File Name: Ashworth microbial data by PLOT.xlsx

Resource Title: Microbial diversity based on crop rotation, cover crop, and poultry litter after 14-years of managment. File Name: Ashworth microbial data by PLOT.csvResource Description: CSV version of the data

Resource Title: Microbial diversity based on crop rotation, cover crop, and poultry litter after 14-years of managment.

File Name: Ashworth microbial data by PLOT.csv

Resource Description: CSV version of the data

Resource Title: Data Dictionary. File Name: Ashworth-PLOT-Jul2019-data-dictionary.csvResource Description: Defines variables, data type, accepted values, size, if required, etc. for the tabular data.

Resource Title: Data Dictionary.

File Name: Ashworth-PLOT-Jul2019-data-dictionary.csv

Resource Description: Defines variables, data type, accepted values, size, if required, etc. for the tabular data.

Original Distribution URL: https://agdatacommons.nal.usda.gov/articles/dataset/Microbial_community_structure_is_affected_by_cropping_sequences_and_poultry_litter_under_long-term_no-tillage/24660822

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: NP212; data.gov; ARS

Collection Notes: DOI: 10.15482/USDA.ADC/1503822 Citation: Ashworth, Amanda (2019). Microbial community structure is affected by cropping sequences and poultry litter under long-term no-tillage. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1503822 (Downloaded 2026-06-26)

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