Reaction of the fallow soil microbiome to wheat cultivation using biofertilizers

The resumption of the use of deposits in agriculture is an urgent problem for ensuring food security. The study used the soil microbiome as an indicator of the state of deposits in the climatic zone of the taiga in comparison with arable land and background soil, and also studied its reaction to the cultivation of crops using biofertilizers. For this purpose, a laboratory experiment was conducted on growing wheat using the biofertilizer Extrasol on fallow, arable and natural forest soils. The chemical parameters of the soil and the yield of wheat were used as indicators of the soil condition. The changes in the microbiome occurred with the help of a similar sequencing of the 16th-century rRNA library.
According to the main chemical parameters and the taxonomic profile of the microbiome, the deposit was closest to arable land. Both agrostems showed higher yields than forest soil. The introduction of biofertilizers led to more pronounced changes in the microbiome of fallow and field soils compared to forest soils. However, the composition of the microbiome of fallow soils turned out to be resistant to wheat cultivation, similar to the background soil. Specifically, wheat cultivation caused less significant changes in the microbiome of forest and fallow soils than in the microbiome of arable lands. Moreover, the use of biofertilizers did not significantly affect wheat yields on fallow and forest soils, unlike arable soil.
The results showed that fallow soils in various aspects have properties typical of both arable lands and background forest soil. Over time, the microbiome of fallow soils retains the characteristic profile and response to biofertilizers of anthropogenic soil, but it becomes more resistant to wheat cultivation, just like natural soil. This indicates that the 30-year-old fallow soils of the taiga have the economic potential for reuse in agricultural practice.
The work was carried out with the support of Russian Science Foundation No. 23-16-20003 and SPbPF No. 23-16-20003.
The research was carried out on the basis of the Central Research Laboratory "Genomic Technologies, Proteomics and Cell Biology" of the Federal State Budgetary Budgetary Institution VNIISHM.
Kimeklis A.K., Gladkov G.V., Polyakov V.I., Nizamutdinov T.I., Balakina S.V., Ivanov A.A., Kichko A.A., Chebotar V.K., Andronov E.E. and Abakumov E.V. (2026) Reaction of the microbiome of abandoned fallow soil to wheat cultivation and the use of biofertilizers. Before. Support. The food system. 9:1689336. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1689336