Pesticide seed treatments containing neonicotinoids have limited effect
on soil microbial community structure under different tillage regimes.
Abstract
Pesticide seed treatments (PST) which contain fungicides and
insecticides are commonly used in agriculture; however, little is known
about their effect on soil microbial communities and soil health.
Neonicotinoids – controversial insecticides which are common in PST –
have received criticism due to potential non-target effects. While
fungal pathogens need to be moderated, PST have the potential to disturb
broader fungal communities which could lead to reduced nutrient cycling
and poor soil health. Given the broad use of PST, their effect on soil
fungi needs to be studied within the context of other agricultural
management practices. For example, tillage regimes can result in
distinct fungal communities which may respond differently to PST. An
experimental site was established in 2013 with a corn-soy rotation under
three tillage treatments: Full-till, Strip-till, and No-till. Since
2016, seeds with or without PST (fungicides and insecticides) were
planted under each tillage regime in a fully factorial design. In 2018,
bulk soil was collected from within rows while soy was growing. A range
of soil physicochemical variables were measured, and soil function was
determined with substrate-induced respiration and enzyme assays. DNA was
extracted from soil and the ITS region was sequenced to determine fungal
community structure and diversity. While tillage significantly affected
fungal community structure (p < 0.01), there was no effect of
PST on either community structure (p = 0.59) or diversity (p = 0.52).
This indicates that PST does not affect bulk soil fungal communities;
however, they may have an impact at different temporal or spatial scales
than those studied here. Across all treatments, fungal community
structure correlated with soil water holding capacity (rs = 0.23, p =
0.04) and electrical conductivity (rs = 0.26, p = 0.01). Despite not
finding an effect of PST on fungal communities, we did find that PST
increased potentially mineralizable nitrogen under no-till and shifted
community level physiological profiles determined by substrate-induced
respiration. These results suggest that while PST can affect certain
aspects of soil health, there are no clear effects on the soil fungal
community.