Microbial Organic Fertilizer Application Simultaneously Promotes the Yield and Quality of Pinellia ternata by Improving Soil Quality

Pinellia ternata, a traditional Chinese herb, suffers from soil degradation and nutrient imbalance, which significantly decrease both yield and quality. Here, the application of microbial organic fertilizer (MOF) in the cultivation of P. ternata results in high yields and quality under two soil conditions, whether grown in greenhouse or open-field environments. The application of MOF enhanced seedling emergence rates and photosynthetic efficiency, significantly improving various agronomic traits, and increasing the content of flavonoids and total alkaloids in tubers, with a stronger effect observed at a dosage of 75 g/m2. Moreover, available phosphorus, available potassium, catalase, and urease levels were significantly improved. Further, 16S and ITS sequencing revealed that bacteria diversity was not affected by all treatment, while the fungi unweighted UniFrac index showed significant decline in the MOF treatment. The abundance of bacterial Acidobacteriota and Proteobacteria varied with continuous cropping soil, whereas abundance of fungi Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Mortierellomycota was changed in the first cropping of P. ternata. These findings suggest that applying MOF improves the microbial communities of the rhizosphere soil of P. ternata, enhancing soil enzyme activities and decomposing organic and inorganic matter. This, in turn, contributes to the yield and quality of P. ternata.