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Orlova O.V., Zverev A.O., Lisina T.O., Kurchak N., Kichko A.A., Pinaev A.G., Andronov E.E. Dynamics of the fungal community of mulch with the application of the BAGS preparation according to high-throughput sequencing data. Sel'skokhozyaistvennaya Biologiya [Agricultural Biology], 2026, Vol. 61, № 3, p. 510-520.
(how to cite this article)

doi: 10.15389/agrobiology.2026.3.510eng

UDC: 579.64:631.461.61:574.472:631.46

Acknowledgements:
We would like to express our special gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their careful, kind, and constructive reading and revision of the manuscript.
Performed using equipment of the Core Centrum Genomic Technologies, Proteomics and Cell Biology, ARRIAM.
Funded by the Russian Science Foundation, grant No. 23-16-00147.

 

DYNAMICS OF THE FUNGAL COMMUNITY OF MULCH WITH THE APPLICATION OF THE BAGS PREPARATION ACCORDING TO HIGH-THROUGHPUT SEQUENCING DATA

O.V. Orlova ✉, A.O. Zverev, T.O. Lisina, N. Kurchak, A.A. Kichko, A.G. Pinaev, E.E. Andronov

All-Russian Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, 3, sh. Podbel’skogo, St. Petersburg, 196608 Russia, e-mail falenki@hotmail.com (✉ corresponding author)azver.bio@gmail.com,
lisina-to@yandex.ru,nick.kurchak@gmail.com, 2014arki@gmail.com,
apinaev@arriam.ru, eeandr@gmail.com

ORCID:
Orlova O.V. orcid.org/0000-0002-2154-503X
Kichko A.A. orcid.org/0000-0002-8482-6226
Zverev A.O. orcid.org/0000-0002-5315-8632
Pinaev A.G. orcid.org/0000-0001-8272-9679
Lisina T.O. orcid.org/0000-0003-1268-4166
Andronov E.E. orcid.org/0000-0002-5204-262X
Kurchak N. orcid.org/0009-0009-5901-0354

Final revision received October 13, 2025
Accepted December 13, 2025

No-till technologies are becoming increasingly widespread due to their undeniable economic effect (G.A. Thomas et al., 2007). Along with the advantages, this technology carries risks of increased plant disease incidence, since mulch can serve as a reservoir for phytopathogenic fungi (D.C. Schlatter et al., 2017). In this regard, the complex biologically active preparation BAGS, developed at the All-Russian Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology, is of interest, as it accelerates the decomposition of plant residues and possesses antifungal activity. In this work, for the first time, the presence of a significant number of representatives of the genus Fusarium (11 ASVs) in the fungal microbiome of oat straw was shown, as well as a decrease in the abundance of F. graminearum in mulch when using the BAGS preparation. It was confirmed that the introduced phytopathogen is capable of persisting for a sufficiently long period (68 days) in straw mulch, especially in the variant without BAGS treatment. The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of the BAGS preparation on the composition of the fungal community in mulch during an experiment simulating no-till technology, in which crop residues are left on the soil surface. A laboratory experiment with composting of oat straw (Avena sativa L.) on the soil surface was carried out in 1 L plastic containers. A nylon fabric was placed on the soil surface (to facilitate determination of straw mass loss), onto which 15 g of chopped straw (14.1 g of absolutely dry mass) were placed. To create an artificial background of phytopathogenic fungi, 50 mL per vessel of a suspension of Fusarium graminearum (1.45×104 CFU/ml), the causal agent of Fusarium head blight, was added to the straw mulch. The experimental variants were as follows: straw; straw + F. graminearum; straw + F. graminearum + 10 % (of straw mass) BAGS. Composting was carried out at 22-26 °C and constant moisture of 75-78 %. At the initial time point and after 30 and 68 days, high-throughput sequencing of ITS amplicon libraries (eukaryotes) was performed. Differences between the obtained microbiomes were assessed by analyzing alpha (within-sample) and beta diversity (between samples). Alpha diversity assessment included determination of the total number of ASVs (Observed ASVs), Shannon index, Simpson index (Simpson = 1 - D), and Chao1 (an indicator of species richness). Visualization of beta diversity was performed using Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) based on Bray-Curtis distance. The search for taxa with significantly changed abundance in pairwise comparisons was conducted using the DeSEQ2 package. The main factor explaining the largest part of the variability in microbiome structure according to beta diversity analysis (more than 22 % of explained variation) was the duration of the experiment, i.e., the stage of straw decomposition. A decrease in the proportion of Basidiomycota was observed due to the disappearance of yeast and epiphytic forms (Vishniacozyma, Dioszegia, Wallemia) relative to ascomycetes in all variants, from 50-53 % at the initial time point to 0.8-0 % after 30 and 68 days, reflecting a transition from epiphytic mycobiota to saprotrophic decomposers of organic matter. The Fusarium complex of the mulch proved to be very rich and included at least 11 taxa belonging to the genus Fusarium, while high-throughput sequencing results allowed clear distinction of the introduced phytopathogen from other representatives of the genus. A decrease in the abundance of the introduced phytopathogenic strain was noted in the variant with BAGS compared to straw inoculated with the pathogen, both after 30 and 68 days, by factors of 3.9 and 3.3, respectively. The introduced phytopathogen was capable of persisting for a sufficiently long time (68 days) in straw mulch, especially in the variant without treatment with the biological preparation. Significant changes in the structure of the fungal community observed under the influence of BAGS occurred due to redistribution of taxa abundance rather than changes in diversity. The effect of the biological product on fungal taxa was not selective, as stimulation was observed for both Humicola (cellulolytic fungi that promote soil fertility) and plant pathogens of the genus Phialophora.

Keywords: Fusarium graminearum, oat straw, mulch, high-throughput sequencing, micromycete succession, BAGS biopreparation.

 

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