Journal of Agronomy and Field Innovations

Background: Soil fungi are central regulators of nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and aggregate stability, making fungal community diversity a key indicator of agroecosystem sustainability. Intensive conventional tillage disrupts fungal hyphal networks and homogenizes microbial habitats, whereas reduced tillage is widely promoted as a conservation practice that preserves soil structure and biological activity.
Objective: This study assessed the influence of reduced tillage on soil fungal community diversity, composition, and structure relative to conventional tillage using high-throughput amplicon sequencing.
Methods: Soil samples (0–15 cm depth) were collected from a two-year field experiment arranged in a randomized complete block design comparing conventional tillage and reduced tillage plots, each replicated four times. Genomic DNA was extracted, and the fungal ITS2 region was amplified and sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Sequences were processed using DADA2 within QIIME2, taxonomically classified against the UNITE database, and analyzed for alpha diversity (Shannon, Simpson, Chao1, ACE), beta diversity (Bray–Curtis, PCoA, PERMANOVA), and correlation with soil physicochemical properties.
Results: Reduced tillage plots exhibited significantly higher fungal richness and evenness, with Shannon index values averaging 5.42 compared with 4.68 under conventional tillage (p < 0.05). Ascomycota dominated both treatments, but Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota were proportionally enriched under reduced tillage, while beta diversity analysis revealed distinct community clustering by tillage regime (PERMANOVA, R² = 0.31, p = 0.002). Fungal diversity correlated positively with soil organic carbon and moisture content.
Conclusion: Reduced tillage promotes greater fungal diversity and a community composition associated with saprotrophic and mycorrhizal functions beneficial to soil health. High-throughput sequencing provides a robust framework for monitoring tillage-induced shifts in soil fungal communities, supporting its integration into conservation agriculture and precision soil management strategies.