Effect of crop rotation and rice straw mulching on microbial communities involved in carbon conversion processes

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We will study the effect of crop rotation between upland maize and submerged rice cultivation and between flooded and non-flooded conditions on the processes involved in methane production and on the composition of the methanogenic microbial community. This will be done by a combination of δ13C analysis in root organic carbon, soil organic carbon, acetate, CO2 and CH4; of pulse-labelling experiments using 13C-CO2; and of molecular analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of the methanogenic archaeal community in soil and rhizosphere. As result we expect to obtain turnover rates of carbon, the relative contribution of different pathways to CH4 production and the relative contribution of root-derived versus soil organic matter-derived carbon to CH4 production, all these parameters in relation to the composition of the methanogenic archaeal community. The study will show how crop rotation will affect community composition and processes involved in production and emission of the green-house gas methane.