Can aeration improve bamboo soil fertility of soil below bamboo and fungal diversity under mulching conditions?

Aeration can alleviate soil hypoxia stress of Phyllostachys praecox bamboo under mulching conditions, but how aeration affects soil properties, soil fungal community structure, and bamboo development is unclear. We studied the responses of soil properties, fungal community structure, bamboo shoots, and rhizome growth to organic mulching (TM), mulching with aeration (TA1 and TA2), and no-mulching treatments (CK) from a field experiment in March and July, 2019. During the mulching period (March), the aeration improvement treatment (TA2) improved soil O-2 content, bamboo shoots yield, and soil nutrient availability significantly when compared with TM. TA2 treatment showed significantly higher relative abundances of the genus Trichoderma and functional group endophyte than TM treatment, which might be conducive to soil nutrient transformation and bamboo growth. The TA2 treatment had higher fungal diversity indices than that of the TA1 treatment, suggesting that optimal aeration conditions enhance soil fungal diversity. The fungal community structure also showed strong temporal dynamics in all treatments. Mantel test results indicated soil O-2 is the primary factor driving fungal community structure under mulching conditions, while has no impact on the fungal community in summer; fungal community structure was primarily controlled by soil pH in summer. Structural equation model revealed soil NO3--N content was responsible directly for bamboo rhizome growth and shoot yield. Our results indicate short-term mulching is beneficial to soil nutrients improvement and bamboo yield increase, while rational aeration can further facilitate sustainable plantation development under hypoxic soil conditions.