Abstract

Pot experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of a low concentration of lead (<300 mg/kg, soil pH = 8.45) on the rhizosphere microbial community of winter wheat seedlings. The ability of the microorganisms to utilize carbon sources was notably altered and a principal component analysis also showed that the microbial functional diversity was significantly affected by a low concentration of lead. The number of fungi decreased significantly (p<0.01) under the stress of a low concentration of lead. The fungal/bacterial population ratio decreased markedly with the increase of lead during three growth stages. Our results would be helpful for future proposals and concerning decisions of environmental quality standards for soils with regard to lead thresholds for agricultural land.

Keywords:

Low concentration of lead, rhizosphere microorganism, winter wheat seedlings,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.