Agricultural practices modulate the bacterial communities, and nitrogen cycling bacterial guild in rhizosphere: field experiment with soybean.

Results concluded that the practice of conservation agriculture comprising of raised bed, zero tillage, crop residue retention, and application of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) nutrients favorably affected the plant attributes and the abundance of N cycling bacterial community over the two consecutive years. The outcome revealed the mechanistic principle behind enhanced plant growth under conservation agriculture, and opened up the possibility of regulating the N cycling bacterial community to develop sustainable and productive agro-ecosystems. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.