Effects of Different Vegetable Rotations on the Bacterial Community Structure and Tomato Growth in a Continuous Tomato Cropping Substrate

Abstract Purpose In this study, MiSeq pyrosequencing was used to analyze the effects of different vegetable rotations on the bacterial diversity and community structure in a substrate that was used for continuous tomato cropping (CK). Methods The vegetable rotations tested were cabbage/tomato (B), kidney bean/tomato (D), and celery/tomato (Q). Results The results revealed that the substrate bacterial diversity and richness of each crop rotation were higher than those of CK. The highest bacterial diversity was found in the B substrate, followed by the Q and D substrates. Further comparison showed that the bacterial community structure of Q substrate was significantly different to that of CK. Compared with the CK, the Q substrate had a significantly higher relative abundance of several dominant microflora, such as Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes. Additionally, the Q rotation significantly increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as Actinobacteria_unclassified and Anaerolineaceae_unclassified. A redundancy analysis showed that Most dominant bacteria correlated positively with the substrate pH, total N, and alkali-hydrolyzable N but negatively with the available P, available K, total P, total K, and organic matter contents and substrate EC. The substrates after crop rotation improved the growth and physiological condition of the subsequent tomato plants, among which those from the Q rotation performed the best. Conclusion Therefore, celery rotation not only increased the richness and diversity of bacterial communities in the substrate but also significantly increased the richness of the beneficial bacterial communities, allowing better maintenance of the substrate microenvironment for the healthy growth of crops.