Cover crop biomass and species composition affect soil microbial community structure and enzyme activities in semiarid cropping systems

Abstract Cover crops are promoted to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and improve soil biological health in agricultural systems. However, cover crop effects on soil microbial communities – key regulators of SOC and nutrients – and functioning are not clear in semiarid environments. This study investigated the response of soil microbial community structure and enzyme activities to cover crop integration under limited-irrigation winter wheat (Triticum aestivum)-sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)-fallow rotation. The study had a randomized complete block design with eight treatments and three replications. Treatments were pea (Pisum sativum); oat (Avena sativa); canola (Brassica napus L.); and mixtures of pea + oat (POmix), pea + canola (PCmix), pea + oat + canola (POCmix), and pea + oat + canola + hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) + forage radish (Raphanus sativus L.) + barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) (diverse-mix) as cover crops; and a fallow. Soil samples were collected in the summer of 2017 and 2018 from 0 to 15 cm depth of each plot established in fall 2015. Microbial community size and structure were evaluated via ester-linked fatty acid methyl ester (EL-FAME) analysis, which showed that total microbial community size and fungal community were similar between soils under oats and diverse-mix, and were 31% and 41% greater than fallow, respectively. The FAME marker for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) was 84% greater under oats than fallow. The combined enzyme activity of acid phosphatase, β-glucosidase, and β-glucosaminidase was 294 mg p-nitrophenol (PNP) kg−1 soil h−1 under diverse-mix, which was greater than fallow (204 mg PNP kg−1 soil h−1, p = 0.021) in 2018. Cover cropping during fallow period in a crop-fallow rotation could increase total microbial community size, fungal abundance, and enzyme activities associated with carbon (C) and nutrient cycling. Among cover crops, oat and its mixture with legumes (pea and hairy vetch) and brassicas (canola and forage radish) were most effective in improving soil health and biogeochemical cycling in a hot and dry semiarid climate.