Tillage and crop rotation modulate nematode community assembly in the black soil

Abstract

Tillage and crop rotation systems are known to influence soil nematode community structure, but their effects on community assembly processes remain unclear. We conducted a two-year field experiment in the black soil of northeast China to assess how tillage practices—no-tillage (NT), reduced tillage (RT), and conventional tillage (CT)—combined with cropping systems—continuous corn (CC) and corn-soybean rotation (CS)—affect nematode community structure, assembly processes, and associated environmental drivers. A semi-quantitative approach that combined nematode extraction with high-throughput sequencing of 18S rDNA was employed. Tillage, rotation, and their interaction significantly affected nematode alpha diversity and abundance. Compared to CT-CC, RT-CC treatment significantly enhanced nematode Richness and Chao1, while CT-CS treatment increased nematode total abundance. Community composition also varied with tillage, with Acrobeloides (bacterivore) dominating across treatments and Aphelenchoides (fungivore) being particularly enriched under CT. Assembly analyses revealed that CT intensified environmental filtering and deterministic processes, leading to community homogenization-particularly in the CC system, where Aphelenchoides was strongly linked to deterministic assembly. In contrast, NT and RT improved microhabitat heterogeneity, enhancing the role of stochastic processes under both cropping systems. Environmental factors, particularly dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and ammonium nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N), emerged as key drivers of nematode community structure and assembly, respectively. These findings highlight that aligning nitrogen management with rational tillage–rotation strategies is essential for promoting nematode functional diversity and sustaining soil ecosystem functioning in black soil regions.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

conservation tillage / corn–soybean rotation / stochastic process / deterministic process / soil nitrogen

Highlight

	● Reduced tillage with continuous corn increased nematode alpha diversity.
	● Conventional tillage with corn-soybean rotation raised total nematode abundance.
	● Increased tillage intensity strengthened community homogenization.
	● Soil nitrogen components regulated nematode structure and assembly processes.

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