## 2 Results
### H\({}_{2}\) Response Is Functionally Linked to Rhizsphere Microbial Communities  
The network analysis showed a co-occurrence pattern among the genes related to C, N and P cycling. As shown in Figure 5A and Supplementary Table S6, this network consists of 97 nodes and 1087 edges. Notably, _porA_ (K00169), _rbCL_ (K01601), _nrfA_ (K03385), _napA_ (K02567), and _ugpE_ (K05815), identified with the higher abundances in HNW compared to the SW group (Figures 3 and 4), as well as _katG_ (K03782) and _phmC_ (K02041) exhibiting higher abundances in HNW + F compared to the SW + F group, also had strong and significant correlations with other genes ( \(\rm{I}\) R\(\rm{I}\) \(>0.8\), \(p<0.01\)). In addition, there were more key genes positively related to strawberry yield (TY, YPP, and SFW) in the networks for the comparison between the SW and HNW groups, as well as that of the SW + F and HNW + F groups (Figure 5B and Supplementary Table S7; \(\mid\) R \(\mid\) \(>\) 0.8, \(p\) < 0.01). For example, genes related to C fixation (_frdAB_, _rbcL_, _porrAD_), DNRA (_mapAB_ and _mrfAH_), and P solubilization, mineralization and transportation (_ppx-gppA_, _appA_, and _ugpABCE_) were positively associated with strawberry yield (TY and YPP) in the SW and HNW network. In the network of SW + F and HNW + F groups, for example, _phoA_ and _phmC_ for P cycling showed a positive correlation with strawberry yield (TY and YPP). On the other side, some key genes, including _bgaB_, _malZ_, _nirK_, _lacC_, etc., were  
Figure 3: Relative abundances of genes involved in soil carbon fixation (**A**) and degradation (**B**) in response to hydrogen-based irrigation. Bars indicate the total relative abundances across all treatments. The middle heatmap represents the relative abundances in each sample, and the right represents the relative abundances of genes in each dominant phylum. positively associated with soil properties (particularly SAP and SAK) in the SW and HNW network, whereas a positive correlation was observed between key genes, including \(glB\), \(pmoABC\)/\(amoABC\), \(ugpAC\), etc., and soil properties (including SAP, SAK, or SOM) in the SW + F and HNW + F network. Figure 4: Relative abundances of genes involved in soil nitrogen (**A**) and phosphorus cycling (**B**) in response to hydrogen-based irrigation. Bars indicate the total relative abundances across all treatments, and the middle heatmap represents the relative abundances in each sample, and the right represents the relative abundances of genes in each dominant phylum. Figure 5: Correlations between key genes related to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling in networks and strawberry yield in response to hydrogen-based irrigation. Yellow, green, and pink nodes represent genes involved in C, N, and P cycling, respectively (**A**). The size of each node is proportional to the number of connections. Red and blue lines, respectively, represent positive and negative linear relationships ( \(|\) R \(|\) \(>\) 0.8, and \(p\) \(<\) 0.01). Pearson correlation coefficients between key genes in networks and yield or soil properties at the fruiting stage (10 November 2020; \(|\) R \(|\) \(>\) 0.8, and \(p\) \(<\) 0.01; (**B**)). SAK: soil available potassium content; SAN: soil available nitrogen content; SOM: soil organic matter content; SAP: soil available phosphorus content; SFW: single fruit weight; TY: total yield; YPP: yield per plant. Significant increases in the transcriptional profiles of genes related to N (_NRT1.1_, _NRT2.1_, and _NIA_), P (_PT4_ and _PT8_), and K (_KUP4_ and _KUP8_) absorption in strawberry roots were observed at the fruiting stage after H\({}_{2}\)-based irrigation, regardless of whether the fertilizer was added (Figure 6A), which were consistent with the reductions in SAN, SAP, and SAK contents in soil (Figure 2A).