Effect of pepper and cabbage planting on loess of Guyuan region of China on microbial diversity

Diversity of microorganisms in loess plateau plays critical role in improvement of soil quality. One good strategy is that planting crop improves community of soil microorganisms; however, how microorganism diversity is affected by crop remains unclear. Here, we used a sequencing technology to study the effect of pepper and cabbage crops on soil microorganisms in loess of Guyuan region of China. The analysis revealed that both cabbage and pepper increase the specific Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) in soil and diversity of microorganisms was enhanced after cabbage and pepper were cultivated. Ascomycota are the primary fungus species of the soil, and inhibited significantly with the increased soil layers by pepper and cabbage. Contrarily, the development of Actinobacteria is improved and no new microbial species were found with the increased soil layers when pepper and cabbage were planted. (These data indicate that pepper and cabbage promote more reasonable microbial community of the deep soil layer. We speculate that deep ploughing may be a good planting strategy for crop growth in loess plateau. These findings will provide an insight for the improvement of soil quality in the Guyuan region of China.