Responses of Soil Microbial Communities and Anthracnose Dynamics to Different Planting Patterns in Dalbergia odorifera

Anthracnose is one of the major diseases affecting <i>Dalbergia odorifera</i> T. Chen. However, the soil microbial mechanisms underlying <i>D. odorifera</i> responses to anthracnose remain largely unexplored. This study investigated three planting systems: a <i>Dalbergia odorifera</i> monoculture (J); a mixed plantation of <i>D. odorifera</i> and <i>Pterocarpus macrocarpus</i> (JD); and a composite mixed plantation of <i>D. odorifera</i>, <i>P. macrocarpus</i>, and <i>Clinacanthus nutans</i> (JDY). Using amplicon sequencing technology for soil microbial analysis and combining soil physical and chemical properties with disease severity, we comprehensively analyzed changes in soil microbial community structure and function across different planting modes. The results showed that the diverse mixed mode (JD, JDY) significantly improved soil physicochemical properties and promoted soil nutrient cycling. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that soil organic matter (SOM) and disease severity, quantified by the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC), were the primary environmental drivers of microbial community variation. Genera positively correlated with SOM and negatively correlated with AUDPC were significantly enriched in JDY and JD, whereas genera showing opposite relationships were predominantly enriched in J. Functional predictions revealed enhanced nutrient-cycling capacities in JD and JDY, with JDY uniquely harboring functional groups such as Arbuscular Mycorrhizal, Epiphyte, and Lichenized taxa. In contrast, microbial functions in the J plantation were mainly limited to environmental amelioration. Co-occurrence network analysis further showed that as planting patterns shifted from J to JDY, microbial communities evolved from competition-dominated networks to cooperative defensive networks, integrating efficient decomposition with strong pathogen suppression potential. The study demonstrates that complex mixed planting systems regulate soil properties, enhance the enrichment of key functional microbial taxa, reshape community structure and function, and ultimately enable ecological control of anthracnose disease. This study provides new perspectives and theoretical foundations for ecological disease management in plantations of rare tree species and for microbiome-based ecological immunization strategies.