Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Department
Applied and Environmental Biology
Committee Chair
Ember Morrissey
Committee Member
Zachary Freedman
Committee Member
Daniel Panaccione
Abstract
Recently there has been increased interest in the use of marginal lands in order to grow bioproduct crops. Utilizing marginal lands to grow bioproduct crops such as Miscanthus x giganteus and Panicum virgatum could not only improve soil quality and minimize negative environmental impacts on the surrounding ecosystems but could also offer economic benefits to growers in rural areas. Because marginal soils tend to reduce crop yields compared to prime farmlands even when growing bioproduct crops, which tend to be more robust than traditional food crops, augmenting the soil with biofertilizers (i.e., the direct addition of viable microbial cells) could provide plants with better access to nutrients and lead to increased crop yields. We hypothesized that biofertilizers will increase plant growth and microbial activity as well as augment the relative abundance of the added microorganisms in marginal soils. Additionally, we hypothesized that biofertilizers will have the same effect on Panicum virgatum L. (switchgrass) and Miscanthus x giganteus growth and soil carbon and nitrogen availability. In this study, we inoculated pots containing either Miscanthus, Panicum, or no plant with either a commercial biofertilizer or a biofertilizer made by isolating the microbial and fungal community from soil from an established Miscanthus stand. We found positive belowground biomass effects of the commercial biofertilizer, as well as differences in microbial function driven by plant species. Biofertilizers did not appear to affect microbial activity as we had predicted, nor did they appear to increase the relative abundance of the added microorganisms present in the commercial biofertilizer. Our results suggest that Switchgrass and Miscanthus select for a taxonomically and functionally distinct microbial community and that biofertilizers have limited impact on microbiome composition and function.
Recommended Citation
Liseski, Kieran B., "Effects of biofertilizer on soil nutrient cycling and the productivity of bioproduct crops in marginal soils" (2021). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 10310.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10310