Duration of continuous cropping with straw return affects the composition and structure of soil bacterial communities in cotton fields.

Salinized land in the China's Xinjiang Region is being reclaimed for continuous cotton production. The specific objectives of this field study were (i) to compare bacterial composition and diversity in unfarmed (i.e., unreclaimed) and continuously (5, 10, 15, and 20 years) cropped soils and (ii) to explore correlations between soil properties and the bacterial communities identified by Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The results showed that bacterial species richness and diversity increased for 10-15 years and then declined when salinized land was reclaimed for cotton production. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla in unfarmed soil. Continuous cropping reduced the abundance of Firmicutes but increased that of Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Cluster analyses showed that the greatest similarities in bacterial communities were between the 5- and 10-year treatments and between the 15- and 20-year treatments. Soil pH, electrical conductivity, alkali-hydrolyzable N, and available P were significantly correlated with bacterial community distribution. Overall, cotton production improved soil physicochemical properties and altered the structure and composition of soil bacterial communities compared with unfarmed soil. These positive effects began to decrease after 10-15 years of continuous cotton production.