Abstract

The research aimed to assess the influence of conservation agriculture-based practice of no tillage and residue retention on the soil fungal diversity and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission at the flowering stage of field pea in a rotation system with spring wheat. The treatments in the experiment were no-tillage with stubble removed (NT), no-tillage with stubble retained (NTS), conventional tillage with stubble removed (T), and conventional tillage with stubble incorporated (TS). Bulk soil and rhizosphere soil fungi DNA were sequenced using fungal ITS (ITS2) region genes. Treatments NT and NTS recorded the greatest fungal ITS region operational taxonomic units (OTUs) however, they did not vary significantly (P < 0.05) among treatments. Fungal OTUs diversity indices in the bulk soil were greater compared to those of the rhizosphere soil. The predominant phyla were Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and rare fungi genus Kurtzmanomyces were found in the rhizosphere. A few fungi class taxa recorded significant (P < 0.05) positive and negative correlations between tillage, soil respiration and total carbon emission. The study highlights the strong implication for the practice of residue retention and no-tillage to improve soil fungi, carbon emission efficiency and promote conservation agriculture-based practices.

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