Strawberry Performance and Rhizospheric Health Were Efficiently Improved After Long-Term Sheep Manure Organic Fertilizer Application

Strawberry is a popular fruit with great commercial value. It is meaningful to study how to improve strawberry yield and quality in a sustainable way. In this research, the potential impacts of replacing chemical fertilizer (CF) with sheep manure organic fertilizer (SMOF) on strawberry rhizospheric bacteria, soil physicochemical properties, strawberry fruit yield, and nutritional quality were studied through a strawberry field experiment with 16 years of different fertilizer applications. This study showed that, compared with chemical fertilizer, SMOF effectively improved soil physicochemical properties and increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria, the absolute abundance of phosphorus-related functional genes pqqC and phoD and bacteria diversity, and enhanced synergistic action among strawberry rhizospheric bacteria. The yield, and the contents of total soluble solids, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and vitamin C, and sugar/acid ratio of strawberry fruit in SMOF treatment were significantly higher than in CF treatment by 40%, 21%, 15%, 46%, 23%, and 41%, respectively (p < 0.05). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that strawberry fruit yield and nutritional quality were positive with soil pH, bacterial diversity, soil enzyme activity, and nutrient content, and negative with soil density. The results showed that long-term SMOF could efficiently improve strawberry performance and rhizospheric health.