Abstract
Foliar application of metal micronutrients is increasingly adopted in intensive cultivation systems, yet its potential ecological risks to rhizosphere functions remain poorly understood. Here, using the medicinal plant Panax notoginseng as a model, we conducted a gradient foliar amendment experiment with iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) to evaluate how aboveground metal inputs regulate rhizosphere soil multifunctionality (MF) through microbial life-history strategies. By integrating 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, metagenomics, root transcriptomics, and a newly developed quantitative Yield-Acquisition-Stress tolerance (qYAS) framework, we disentangled the microbial mechanisms underlying divergent functional responses to metal amendments. Foliar Fe significantly enhanced multifunctionality, including nutrient provision and element cycling, while Cu and Zn reduced nutrient provision and element cycling, but enhanced plant pathogen abundances. These changes were closely associated with shifts in bacterial life-history strategies: Fe promoted Y-strategists characterized by efficient carbon use, streamlined genomes, and high network connectivity, whereas Cu and Zn enriched AS-strategists with larger genomes and negative associations with multifunctionality. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) further identified microbial strategies as key mediators linking foliar metal inputs, plant performance, soil properties, and multifunctionality. This study provides a trait-based microbial framework for evaluating foliar metal fertilization and guiding safer nutrient management.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Werner Liesack at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology for his stimulating discussions and encouragement. This work was funded by the Scientific and technological innovation project of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CI2023E002, CI2024E003, CI2026A03809), National Natural Science Foundation of China (82304663), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes (ZZ16-XRZ-072, ZZ17-YQ-025, ZXKT22052, and ZXKT22060), the Beijing Nova Program (Z181100006218020), and the National Key Research and Development Program (2022YFC3501802, 2022YFC3501803, and 2022YFC3501804); CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences(CIFMS) Grant (NO. 2023-I2M-2-006).
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Liu, Y., Xiong, G., Gao, L. et al. Foliar metal micronutrients reshape rhizosphere soil multifunctionality by filtering microbial life-history strategies.
npj Biofilms Microbiomes (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-026-01071-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-026-01071-y
Source: Ecology - nature.com
