Effects of soil conditioners on vineyard saline soil physicochemical properties and bacterial community in arid areas

Soil salinization adversely affects soil quality and ecosystem. Many researches have tried to ameliorate saline soils by soil conditioners. However, little is known about the differences in the responses of soil bacterial communities to natural and artificial conditioners applied to saline soils. Therefore, in this study, the effects of natural humic acid (IK), synthetic polymer (IP), and composite material (IF) (mixture of IK and IP (1:1)) on bacterial community structure and functional genes in saline soil were evaluated to clarify their differences. The results showed that the application of the three soil conditioners significantly reduced soil pH and Na⁺ content but increased soil alkaline phosphatase, urease, invertase and catalase activities, bacterial diversity, and nutrients, compared to the control (no conditioner). IK application increased bacterial relative abundance (e.g., Subgroup_6, RB41, MND1, and KD4-96) and metabolic functions (e.g., Two-component system and Biosynthesis of amino acids) by increasing soil nitrogen and maintaining K⁺ and Na⁺ balance. IP application increased soil alkaline phosphatase and urease activities as well as bacterial relative abundance (e.g., Subgroup_6, RB41, MND1, Gemmatimonadaceae, and KD4-96) and metabolic functions (e.g., Quorum sensing and carbon metabolism) by increasing soil organic carbon/nitrogen content. IF application increased the bacterial relative abundance of Subgroup_6, RB41, and MND1 by increasing soil available nitrogen and regulated their metabolic pathways (e.g., ABC transporters and microbial metabolism). On the whole, IK, IP, and IF could regulate the structure and function of soil bacterial community in saline soils. This study clarifies difference in the effects of different soil conditioners on the amelioration of saline soils from the perspective of soil microbiology, and provides a reference for the amelioration of saline soils in arid areas.