Ecological effects of crude oil residues on the functional diversity of soil microorganisms in three weed rhizospheres

Ecological effects of crude oil residues on weed rhizospheres are still vague. The quantitative and diversity changes and metabolic responses of soil-bacterial communities in common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), jerusalem artichoke (Silphium perfoliatum L.) and evening primrose (Acalypha australis L.) rhizospheric soils were thus examined using the method of carbon source utilization. The results indicated that there were various toxic effects of crude oil residues on the growth and reproduction of soil bacteria, but the weed rhizospheres could mitigate the toxic effects. Total heterotrophic counting colony-forming units (CFUs) in the rhizospheric soils were significantly higher than those in the non-rhizospheric soils. The culturable soil-bacterial CFUs in the jerusalem artichoke (S. perfoliatum) rhizosphere polluted with 0.50 kg/pot of crude oil residues were almost twice as much as those with 0.25 kg/pot and without the addition of crude oil residues. The addition of crude oil residues increased the difference in substrate evenness, substrate richness, and substrate diversity between non-rhizospheric and rhizospheric soils of T. officinale and A. australis, but there was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the Shannon’s diversity index between non-rhizospheric and rhizospheric soils of S. perfoliatum. The rhizospheric response of weed species to crude oil residues suggested that S. perfoliatum may be a potential weed species for the effective plant-microorganism bioremediation of contaminated soils by crude oil residues.