{"title":"Recycling peach branch waste: effects of different field return methods on soil improvement and nitrogen cycling","authors":"Bofei Cui, Huili Gao, Chenyu Liu, Chengda Gao, Mingming Chang, Xin Liu, Yueping Liu","doi":"10.1007/s11104-025-07799-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Aims</h3><p>With the rapid expansion of peach cultivation in China, a substantial amount of pruned peach branch waste is generated annually. However, research on the sustainable disposal of these branch waste remains limited. This study aims to evaluate the potential of returning discarded peach branches to the field as a novel approach for resource recycling.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Methods</h3><p>We evaluated the effects of three field return methods—organic fertilizer (OF), mushroom substrate (PM) and surface covering (SC)—on soil physicochemical properties. Metagenomic analysis was employed to investigate the impact of these treatments on soil microbial communities and nitrogen cycling-related genes.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>All return methods significantly increased soil nutrient content, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN). Metagenomic analysis revealed that these treatments markedly altered the composition, diversity and abundance of nitrogen cycling-related functional genes in soil microbial communities. Notably, surface covering (SC) significantly enhanced the abundance of nitrogen fixation genes (<i>nifH</i>, <i>nifD</i> and <i>nifK</i>) and nitrification-related genes (<i>hao</i>, <i>hcp</i> and <i>nirS</i>) and promoted the enrichment of nitrogen-fixing microbes such as Methylocaldum and Anaeromyxobacter. Moreover, changes in nitrogen cycling genes were strongly correlated with total carbon (TC), available potassium (AK), MBC and MBN.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Conclusions</h3><p>Our findings suggest that surface covering is an effective method for the field return of peach branch waste, capable of improving soil quality, enhancing nitrogen availability, optimizing microbial nitrogen cycling functions and promoting overall soil health.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Graphical Abstract</h3>\n","PeriodicalId":20223,"journal":{"name":"Plant and Soil","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Plant and Soil","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-025-07799-4","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRONOMY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aims
With the rapid expansion of peach cultivation in China, a substantial amount of pruned peach branch waste is generated annually. However, research on the sustainable disposal of these branch waste remains limited. This study aims to evaluate the potential of returning discarded peach branches to the field as a novel approach for resource recycling.
Methods
We evaluated the effects of three field return methods—organic fertilizer (OF), mushroom substrate (PM) and surface covering (SC)—on soil physicochemical properties. Metagenomic analysis was employed to investigate the impact of these treatments on soil microbial communities and nitrogen cycling-related genes.
Results
All return methods significantly increased soil nutrient content, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN). Metagenomic analysis revealed that these treatments markedly altered the composition, diversity and abundance of nitrogen cycling-related functional genes in soil microbial communities. Notably, surface covering (SC) significantly enhanced the abundance of nitrogen fixation genes (nifH, nifD and nifK) and nitrification-related genes (hao, hcp and nirS) and promoted the enrichment of nitrogen-fixing microbes such as Methylocaldum and Anaeromyxobacter. Moreover, changes in nitrogen cycling genes were strongly correlated with total carbon (TC), available potassium (AK), MBC and MBN.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that surface covering is an effective method for the field return of peach branch waste, capable of improving soil quality, enhancing nitrogen availability, optimizing microbial nitrogen cycling functions and promoting overall soil health.
期刊介绍：
Plant and Soil publishes original papers and review articles exploring the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and that enhance our mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions. We focus on the interface of plant biology and soil sciences, and seek those manuscripts with a strong mechanistic component which develop and test hypotheses aimed at understanding underlying mechanisms of plant-soil interactions. Manuscripts can include both fundamental and applied aspects of mineral nutrition, plant water relations, symbiotic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, root anatomy and morphology, soil biology, ecology, agrochemistry and agrophysics, as long as they are hypothesis-driven and enhance our mechanistic understanding. Articles including a major molecular or modelling component also fall within the scope of the journal. All contributions appear in the English language, with consistent spelling, using either American or British English.
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