Organic-mineral amendments enhance soil carbon accumulation and rice biomass in coastal salinized soil by regulating fungal necromass carbon and microbial communities
Abstract
IntroductionCoastal soil salinization impairs soil structure and microbial functionality, thereby hindering soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and constraining rice productivity. Organic amendments offer a promising route for reclaiming such degradedsoil; however, the mechanisms by which they modulate soil carbon transformation dynamics and rhizosphere microbial communities to improve rice productivity remain poorly resolved. MethodsTo address this gap, we conducted a pot experiment on coastal saline soil with four treatments: (i) conventional chemical fertilizer (NPK), (ii) NPK combined with attapulgite (ATG), (iii) NPK + ATG + composted straw/swine manure (ATG.SM), and (iv) NPK + ATG + woody peat (ATG.WP).ResultsResults showed that, compared with NPK, ATG.WP significantly mitigated soil salinity, as indicated by 26.0%, 25.8%, and 9.3% reductions in electrical conductivity (EC), total salt content (TSC), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), respectively, alongside a 12.2% increase in soil Ca2+ and elevated rice biomass. ATG.WP also significantly increased SOC, particulate organic C (POC), microbial biomass C (MBC), total amino sugars, fungal necromass C (FNC), the fungal-to-bacterial necromass C ratio (F/B), and C management index (CMI) (p< 0.05). Activities of cellobiohydrolase (CBH) and b-glucosidase (bG) enzymes were 163.8% and 81.5% higher under ATG.WP than under NPK. Correlation analysis revealed that rice biomass was negatively correlated with soil salinity indicators but positively correlated with multiple soil C components and C-cycling enzyme activities. Metagenomics analysis further demonstrated that ATG.WP selectively enriched beneficial bacterial phyla (e.g., Pseudomonadota, Chloroflexota, Acidobacteriota), while concurrently suppressed fungal taxa such as Ascomycota and Chytridiomycota. Random forest modeling identified FNC and POC as the primary predictors of SOC accumulation, and structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that organic-mineral amendments enhanced SOC accumulation by alleviating saline stress, stimulating fungal necromass C production, and recruiting specialized bacterial consortia that chemically stabilize the labile C component.DiscussionCollectively, these findings demonstrate that co-application of woody peat and attapulgite is an effective organic-mineral strategy for reclaiming coastal saline paddy soil, operating through a fungal-dominated microbial carbon pump that drives stable SOC accumulation.
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BibTeX
@article{raza2026organicmineral,
title = {{Organic-mineral amendments enhance soil carbon accumulation and rice biomass in coastal salinized soil by regulating fungal necromass carbon and microbial communities}},
author = {Ali Raza and Zhuoting He and Jingjie Zhou and Xiao Li and Qingxu Ma and Xinya Wang and Yali Kong and Wenhao Tian and Junhua Zhang and Lianghuan Wu and Chao Ma and Xiaochuang Cao},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2026.1981148},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1981148},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Organic-mineral amendments enhance soil carbon accumulation and rice biomass in coastal salinized soil by regulating fungal necromass carbon and microbial communities
AU - Ali Raza
AU - Zhuoting He
AU - Jingjie Zhou
AU - Xiao Li
AU - Qingxu Ma
AU - Xinya Wang
AU - Yali Kong
AU - Wenhao Tian
AU - Junhua Zhang
AU - Lianghuan Wu
AU - Chao Ma
AU - Xiaochuang Cao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2026.1981148
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1981148
AB - IntroductionCoastal soil salinization impairs soil structure and microbial functionality, thereby hindering soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and constraining rice productivity. Organic amendments offer a promising route for reclaiming such degradedsoil; however, the mechanisms by which they modulate soil carbon transformation dynamics and rhizosphere microbial communities to improve rice productivity remain poorly resolved. MethodsTo address this gap, we conducted a pot experiment on coastal saline soil with four treatments: (i) conventional chemical fertilizer (NPK), (ii) NPK combined with attapulgite (ATG), (iii) NPK + ATG + composted straw/swine manure (ATG.SM), and (iv) NPK + ATG + woody peat (ATG.WP).ResultsResults showed that, compared with NPK, ATG.WP significantly mitigated soil salinity, as indicated by 26.0%, 25.8%, and 9.3% reductions in electrical conductivity (EC), total salt content (TSC), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), respectively, alongside a 12.2% increase in soil Ca2+ and elevated rice biomass. ATG.WP also significantly increased SOC, particulate organic C (POC), microbial biomass C (MBC), total amino sugars, fungal necromass C (FNC), the fungal-to-bacterial necromass C ratio (F/B), and C management index (CMI) (p< 0.05). Activities of cellobiohydrolase (CBH) and b-glucosidase (bG) enzymes were 163.8% and 81.5% higher under ATG.WP than under NPK. Correlation analysis revealed that rice biomass was negatively correlated with soil salinity indicators but positively correlated with multiple soil C components and C-cycling enzyme activities. Metagenomics analysis further demonstrated that ATG.WP selectively enriched beneficial bacterial phyla (e.g., Pseudomonadota, Chloroflexota, Acidobacteriota), while concurrently suppressed fungal taxa such as Ascomycota and Chytridiomycota. Random forest modeling identified FNC and POC as the primary predictors of SOC accumulation, and structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that organic-mineral amendments enhanced SOC accumulation by alleviating saline stress, stimulating fungal necromass C production, and recruiting specialized bacterial consortia that chemically stabilize the labile C component.DiscussionCollectively, these findings demonstrate that co-application of woody peat and attapulgite is an effective organic-mineral strategy for reclaiming coastal saline paddy soil, operating through a fungal-dominated microbial carbon pump that drives stable SOC accumulation.
SN - 1664-462X
ER -