Differences in the Soil Prokaryotic Microbiome during Continuous and Single Cultivation of Three Varieties of Chinese Cabbage

Abstract

Extended cultivation of Chinese cabbage in facility leads to significant continuous cropping challenges, which limits the healthy and sustainable development of the cabbage industry. This study employed metagenomic sequencing to examine soil microbial changes under continuous cropping, integrating soil chemical properties to investigate correlations between soil microbiota and soil quality. Results indicated that after continuous cropping of three varieties of Chinese cabbage, there were decreases in microbial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and the abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities. Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota were the most dominant Phyla in the soil microbial community. The continuous cropping of three varieties of Chinese cabbage significantly increased the relative abundance of Pseudomonadota but decreased that of Actinomycetota and increased the relative abundance of Gemmatimonas, Enhygromyxa, Rhizobium, Steroidobacter, and Bacillus, decreased the relative abundance of Pseudomonas, Bradyrhizobium, Nocardioides, and Solirubrobacter. The relative abundance of Nocardioides demonstrated a significant negative correlation with \({\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }\), Cl^–, and available Fe, Cu, and Zn levels. Conversely, Pseudomonas abundance showed a significant positive correlation with soil pH but a negative correlation with \({\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }\), \({\text{HCO}}_{3}^{ - }\), \({\text{SO}}_{4}^{{2 - }}\), Cl^–, Ca²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, and available Fe, Cu, and Zn levels. These findings suggested that the reduced abundance of Nocardioides and Pseudomonas may contribute substantially to the continuous cropping challenges observed in the three vegetable crops studied.