Soil weakness across consecutive cropping fields can be partially explained by the changes in microbial community diversity and structure. Succession patterns and co-occurrence mechanisms of bacteria and fungi, especially beneficial or pathogenic memberships in continuous cropping strawberry fields and their response to edaphic factors remained unclear. In this study, Illumina sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer genes was applied in three time-course (1, 5, and 10 years) fields across spring and winter. Results showed that the richness and diversity of bacterial and fungal communities increased significantly (p < 0.05) in 1-year field and decreased afterwards across two seasons. Network analysis revealed beneficial bacterial and fungal genus (Bacillus and Trichoderma) dominated under 1-year field whereas Fusarium accumulated under 10-year field at either season. Moreover, Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis that have been reported to effectively control Fusarium wilt in strawberries accumulated significantly under 1-year field. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that beneficial bacterial Rhodospirillales and Rhizobiales and fungal Glomerales accumulated in 1-year field and their distributions were significantly affected by soil pH, microbial biomass C (MBC), and moisture. On the contrary, fungal pathogenic species Fusarium oxysporum strongly increased under 10-year field at the winter sample and the abundance was positively (p < 0.01) correlated with soil moisture. Our study suggested that the potential of microcosm under 1-year field stimulates the whole microbial diversity and favors different beneficial taxa across two seasons. Soil pH, moisture, and MBC were the most important edaphic factors leading to contrasting beneficial and pathogenic memberships across consecutive strawberry cropping fields.
Keywords: Continuous cropping; Edaphic factors; Illumina sequencing; Microbial communities; Strawberry soils.