DOI: 10.5061/dryad.t76hdr8c7
title: Effects of crop species on soil functions and soil multifunctionality are species-specific

description: Soil multifunctionality is essential for sustainable agriculture, as soils
 not only need to support crop growth but also maintain soil biodiversity
 and sustain other critical ecosystem functions. However, the focus of
 intensive agriculture on maximizing crop yield has reduced the
 multifunctional capacity of soil. Here, we examined how crop species can
 be used to enhance individual soil functions and multifunctionality. We
 grew twelve common crop species, organized into four groups: legumes
 (broad bean, green bean, soybean), crucifers (broccoli, Chinese cabbage,
 cabbage), cereals (wheat, maize, oat), and a vegetable mix (eggplant,
 chili pepper, leek) under controlled conditions. We measured how crop
 species affected individual soil functions (plant biomass production,
 nutrient cycling, carbon storage, and disease suppressiveness), soil
 multifunctionality, and the balance in the performance of these functions,
 expressed as evenness of functionality. We found that crop species have
 specific impacts on soil functions and multifunctionality. Broad bean
 enhanced multifunctionality by enhancing biomass production and nutrient
 cycling, while Chinese cabbage and broccoli increased multifunctionality
 via disease suppressiveness and carbon storage functions. There was a
 positive correlation between multifunctionality and the evenness of
 functionality, suggesting that crops enhanced multiple soil functions
 simultaneously. We conclude that no single crop species consistently
 increased all soil functions. However, most crop species contributed to
 soil multifunctionality by stimulating either a balanced combination of
 nutrient and biomass production-related functions or disease and carbon
 storage-related functions. Therefore, enhancing soil multifunctionality in
 agricultural systems may require selecting crop species that are
 complementary in their effects on soil functions. We propose that
 optimizing the multifunctionality of entire crop rotations instead of
 focusing only on yield offers a novel perspective for enhancing the
 sustainability of food production. Such a multifunctional perspective on
 crop rotations may also be applicable to intercropping, and both will
 require attention to keep the agricultural system diversified.
description: This dataset contains measurements of analysis for soil functions
 and soil multifunctionality. Soils were conditioned by different crop
 species analyzed for nitrogen content, mineralization rate, basal
 respiration, active carbon, total carbon and nitrogen, and soil organic
 matter.
description: # Effects of crop species on soil functions and soil multifunctionality
 are species-specific Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.t76hdr8c7](10.5061/dryad.t76hdr8c7) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This dataset contains measurements of analysis for
 soil functions and soil multifunctionality. Soils were conditioned by
 different crop species analyzed for nitrogen content, mineralization rate,
 basal respiration, active carbon, total carbon and nitrogen, and soil
 organic matter.  ### Files and variables #### File:
 Feedback\_Data\_for\_Dryad.csv Description: Biomass measured in the
 feedback phase Variables * Condition: Conditioning species * Feedback:
 Feedback species * Replicate: Replicate number * Root: Root Biomass (g dry
 weight) * Shoot: Shoot Biomass (g dry weight) * Total: Total Biomass (g
 dry weight) * Family: Groups that crop species belong to * Note: `NA`
 indicates that the plant either died or the biomass was below the
 detection limit of the scale. #### File: Raw\_Data.csv Description: Data
 for soil functions and soil multifunctionality ##### Variables *
 Condition: Conditioning species * Replicate: Replicate number *
 Potential_N_Content: Soil mineral N availability (mg N kg⁻¹ soil) *
 Mineralization_N: potential N mineralization rate (mg N kg⁻¹ soil day⁻¹) *
 Family: Groups that crop species belong to * Basal respiration rate (ug C
 g soil-1h-1): Basal microbial respiration (ug C g soil-1h-1) *
 Active_Carbon: Permanganate Oxidizable Carbon (mg C kg⁻¹ soil) * Total_N:
 Total N content (%) * Total_C: Total C content (%) * P_Olsen: Plant
 available phosphorus content (mg P kg⁻¹ soil) * Soil_Organic_Matter: Soil
 organic matter content (% by weight) - Note: `NA` indicates data was not
 available due to measurement failure. #### File:
 Disease\_Supressiveness.xlsx Description: Data for the disease
 suppressiveness test ##### Variables * Condition: Conditioning species *
 Family: Groups that crop species belong to * Replicates: Replicate number
 * Other columns: Daily observations recorded between 25/06/2023 and
 17/07/2023 (dates are used as column headers). Values represent the number
 of dead seedlings