Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) mediate multifunctional roles in plant growth and development. PGPRs increase vegetable tolerance to abiotic stresses and sustain healthy growth by modulating plant hormones, strengthening antioxidant defences, and restructuring the rhizosphere microbiome. Recently, PGPRs have been widely applied to reduce chemical inputs and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, demonstrating positive progress and economic benefits. Nevertheless, two critical limitations hinder agricultural implementation: (i) low rhizosphere colonization efficiency and (ii) ecological instability. Emerging evidence also suggests potential legacy effects on native ecosystems following intensive inoculation, necessitating systematic risk assessment. This review synthesizes contemporary advances in PGPRs research through three key lenses: (i) novel colonization strategies leveraging chemotaxis optimization and biofilm engineering; (ii) mechanistic insights into stress alleviation (drought, salinity, chilling resistance, and thermotolerance); and (iii) quantification of agroecological impacts, including soil health improvement, yield-quality enhancement and carbon footprint reduction. Finally, the sustainable application of PGPRs in vegetable cultivation systems is promising. This synthesis establishes both fundamental knowledge and practical frameworks to guide future PGPRs applications in climate-smart vegetable production.

Crop rotation systems are a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, enhancing soil health, breaking pest cycles, and improving nutrient use efficiency. Integrating organic amendments into these systems can further optimize resource recycling and reduce environmental footprints. This study evaluates the application of pig manure within a peanut-wheat-maize rotation, assessing its impacts on crop productivity, quality, and soil safety to advance integrated crop-livestock systems. The field experiment was conducted from May 2014 to October 2015 using a typical peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)–maize (Zea mays L.) rotation system. There were six treatments in the experiment, including two controls, namely, CK1 (no fertilizer) and CK2 (chemical fertilizer at 300 kg·ha⁻¹); the other treatments involved the application of pig manure as basal fertilizer on the basis of CK2. Four treatments were established on the basis of different pig manure application rates: A1 (pig manure at 37,500 kg·ha⁻¹), A2 (pig manure at 75,000 kg·ha⁻¹), A3 (pig manure at 112,500 kg·ha⁻¹), A4 (pig manure at 225,000 kg·ha⁻¹). The results showed that applying pig manure as a basal fertilizer significantly increased the yields of peanut, wheat, and maize. The most pronounced yield improvement occurred at an application rate of 75,000 kg·ha⁻¹. Under this treatment, peanut, wheat, and maize yields increased by 43.4

Climate constraints in cool-temperate regions significantly restrict the productivity of greenhouse-grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) while seedlings in large-size containers enhance root development and resource acquisition, which could significantly improve tomato yield. A four-month tomato cultivation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of seedling container treatments and zeolite application rates on tomato growth and soil physicochemical properties. The results showed that: (1) Compared with the control group (CK: the local practice, 0 t·ha-1 zeolite + 72-cell plug tray), all treatments significantly increased fruit yield to varying degrees. Considering both agronomic performance and seedling cultivation cost, the treatment of 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug tray was identified as the economically and agronomically optimal choice; (2) Compared with CK, the 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug tray treatment was significantly improved tomato fruit quality attributes. Vitamin C, titratable acid, soluble sugar, and soluble protein in tomato fruits increase by 75.95%, 64.18%, 73.49%, and 124.05%, respectively; (3) Compared with CK, the application of 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug markedly improved soil fertility status. Soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available potassium, and available phosphorus increased by 22.27%, 54.26%, 64.65%, and 62.69%, respectively. Catalase, urease, acid phosphatase, and sucrase activities were increased by 105.77%, 104.90%, 118.38%, and 131.69%, respectively. Considering both yield improvement and soil fertility, the treatment of 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug tray exhibits superior comprehensive benefits and is suitable for popularization and application in cool-temperate regions.

Abstract As climate warming accelerates, shifts in plant phenology are reshaping the functioning and stability of terrestrial ecosystems. While the roles of climatic drivers in shaping phenological responses to warming are well established, the influence of intrinsic plant functional traits remains poorly understood. Here, we combine two complementary approaches through a meta-analysis of 124 field warming experiments and an analysis of long-term phenological monitoring networks (CPON and USA‑NPN) to evaluate phenological responses to warming across a spectrum of resource-use strategies in seasonally cold biomes. Our meta-analysis demonstrates that resource-acquisitive plants, characterized by higher nutrient concentrations and thinner leaves, show significantly stronger phenological responses to experimental warming. This pattern is observed consistently across both leaf-out in spring and senescence in autumn. These results from meta-analysis are further supported by two long-term observational datasets, which also show more pronounced phenological shifts in acquisitive species under long-term warming. Our findings present a trait-climate integration framework that extends beyond conventional environmental drivers, providing a mechanistic foundation to enhance the accuracy of forecasts for plant responses to climate change.

Excessive reliance on chemical fertilizers has led to soil degradation and environmental risks, highlighting the need for sustainable nutrient management strategies and resource-efficient alternatives. Coal gangue, a major industrial solid waste generated during coal mining, contains various mineral nutrients and has recently attracted attention as a potential fertilizer resource. However, the mechanisms through which coal gangue substitution influences vegetable growth, particularly via soil–plant interactions, remain insufficiently understood. Coal gangue substitution significantly modified soil physicochemical properties, particularly soil pH, organic matter and nutrient availability. Moderate substitution levels enhanced nitrogen and phosphorus uptake, stimulated photosynthetic performance and promoted root growth, ultimately improving plant biomass. Changes in rhizosphere microbial communities further contributed to nutrient cycling and mineral weathering processes. However, excessive substitution levels reduced photosynthetic efficiency despite relatively high soil nutrient levels, suggesting potential physiological constraints under high inputs. Structural equation modeling further revealed that coal gangue influenced plant growth primarily through indirect pathways mediated by soil properties and plant nutrient status. Overall, moderate coal gangue substitution (25

With the rapid development of protected agriculture, continuous cropping obstacles (CCOs) have become prominent, severely restricting the sustainable development of the sector. In this review, the mechanism of crop failure in protected agriculture is discussed in depth, including the deterioration of soil physicochemical properties, such as soil acidification, salinization, and nutrient imbalance, and the imbalance of soil microbial community structure, with an increase in harmful microorganisms and a decrease in beneficial microorganisms. Moreover, the accumulation of self-toxic substances (the core of other factors) and unreasonable agricultural management practices negatively impact the growth of crops. In addition, mitigation strategies for CCOs, including rational crop rotation, improved cultivation systems, rational fertilization, soil sterilization, soil amendments, variety breeding, and crop-targeted genetic engineering, are summarized. This review comprehensively summarizes the recent research progress on mechanisms of CCOs and mitigation strategies in protected agriculture. It also discusses the synergistic interactions among the multiple factors driving CCOs, thereby providing a theoretical and practical foundation for mitigating succession-related obstacles and supporting the sustainable development of protected agriculture.

Vermicompost is widely used in vegetable nurseries and field cultivation; however, quantitative assessments of its effects on yield, quality and soil in vegetable cultivation are lacking. Therefore, here, a meta-analysis was performed to comprehensively evaluate the effects of vermicompost on a series of morphological traits related to vegetable emergence and the effects on seedling cultivation in vegetable nurseries, as well as on vegetable yield, vegetable quality, and soil properties during field cultivation. We observed that (1) the vermicompost application rate had a significant concentration-dependent effect on vegetable growth and development. The best results were obtained under 0–20% vermicompost application, with a 23.69% increase in germination, whereas high-concentration treatment at 80–100% resulted in a 4.9% reduction in seedling emergence. Vermicompost had pronounced promotional effects on the stem diameter, leaf number, and height of seedlings. However, its impact on leaf SPAD was minimal and even exhibited significant negative correlations under specific treatment conditions. (2) Different pH values and application amounts of vermicompost can significantly increase vegetable yield. The yield increase effects on five kinds of vegetables were as follows: radish (38.92%) > pepper (38.26%) > cabbage (28.11%) > tomato (18.36%) > cucumber (15.3%). (3) Vermicompost can effectively reduce the nitrate content of vegetables while significantly increasing the vitamin C, soluble sugar and soluble solid contents to optimize vegetable quality. (4) Vermicompost, which is rich in microbial and enzymatic activities, significantly promotes organic matter decomposition and nitrogen conversion, while the carbonate and organic acid in the manure form a buffer system to maintain soil pH stability, thus increasing enzyme activity (urease, 55.27%; sucrase, 45.26%; peroxidase, 55.44%) and nutrient enrichment (38.54% of organic matter; total nitrogen, 30.63%) without significantly altering the acid‒base balance. In conclusion, this study clearly showed that vermicompost significantly improves vegetable seedling morphology and vegetable yield and quality and has great potential for soil improvement. These findings provide an important theoretical basis and practical guidance for the popularization and application of vermicompost in modern sustainable agriculture.

Climate constraints in cool-temperate regions significantly restrict the productivity of greenhouse-grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) while seedlings in large-size containers enhance root development and resource acquisition could significantly improve tomato yield. While in method a four-month tomato cultivation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of seedling container treatments and zeolite application rates on tomato growth and soil physicochemical properties. The results showed that: (1) Compared with the control group (CK: the local practice, 0 t·ha-1 zeolite + 72-cell plug tray), all treatments significantly increased fruit yield to varying degrees. Considering the both agronomic performance and seedling cultivation cost, the treatment of 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug tray was identified as economically and agronomically optimal choice; (2) Compared with CK, the 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug tray treatment were significantly improved tomato fruit quality attributes. Vitamin C, titratable acid, soluble sugar, and soluble protein in tomato fruits increase by 75.95%, 64.18%, 73.49%, and 124.05%, respectively; (3) Compared with CK, the application of 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug markedly improved soil fertility status. Soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available potassium, and available phosphorus increased by 151.71%, 54.26%, 64.65%, and 62.69%, respectively. Catalase, urease, acid phosphatase, and sucrase activities were increased by 105.77%, 104.90%, 118.38%, and 131.69%, respectively. Considering both yield improvement and soil fertility, the treatment of 3 t·ha-1 zeolite + 32-cell plug tray exhibits superior comprehensive benefits and is suitable for popularization and application in cool-temperate regions.

Seaweed extracts (SWEs) are recognized as environmentally sustainable biostimulants which enhance crop productivity and stress resilience. Here, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of global literature (n = 40 publications) to quantify the integrated effects of SWEs on tomato growth, yield, fruit quality, and physiological traits. The research results show that compared with not applying SWEs, applying SWEs can significantly increase plant height (55.31%) and fresh root weight (57.65%). Within the dataset analyzed in this study, the best effect occurs within the concentration range of 2%–10%. Yield parameters also exhibited concentration-dependent responses: floral initiation and fruit number per plant peaked at 2%–10% (56.32% and 83.34%, respectively), whereas higher concentrations (10%–100%) maximized yield (55.9%) per plant and single-fruit fresh weight (104.04%). Notably, suboptimal concentrations (0%–0.5%) adversely affected yield. Fruit quality attributes, including size and nutritional composition, were most substantially increased from 81.92% to 125.57% under 2%–10% SWEs. The application of SWEs is related to the enhanced activity of key antioxidant enzymes, which play a regulatory role in physiological processes related to stress. In conclusion, SWEs synergistically enhance tomato production sustainability. Within the dataset analyzed in this study, the most significant positive effects are observed in the concentration range of 2% to 10%, which could achieve the balanced effects in promoting tomato growth, increasing yield, ensuring quality, and enhancing physiological adaptability.

Plants respond to resource stress by adjusting above- and below-ground biomass allocation, growth, morphological and multiple traits. Yet, whether these traits are differently coordinated among vegetable types to alleviate resource stress is unclear. Here, we examined three types of vegetable (leafy, stem and fruit vegetables, and each type included three vegetable species) about nitrogen and/or light shortages and calculated 16 above- and below-ground trait adjustments in the alleviation of these stresses (plus several underlying traits). The results showed that both light and nitrogen stress significantly impacted above- and below-ground biomass allocation. Under nitrogen stress, below-ground biomass obviously increased. Stresses had distinct effects on plant growth, with leafy vegetables showing increased leaf mass fraction and max. plant height under light stress, while stem and fruit vegetables declined. Fruit vegetables exhibited the most significant increase in root length and surface area under N stress. Leafy vegetables showed higher trait plasticity under both light and nitrogen stress, primarily by optimizing leaf morphology and adjusting resource allocation to improve light capture and nitrogen uptake. In contrast, stem and fruit vegetables exhibited less trait plasticity, showing more constrained growth responses. Adaptive adjustment of vegetable to environmental is related to stress and species-specific traits. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how different vegetable types respond to combined environmental stressors and offer practical implications for agricultural management strategies aimed at improving crop performance under challenging environmental conditions.

Accurate yield prediction for major grain and oilseed crops, including soybean, corn, wheat, and rice, is essential for food-security assessment and precision field management. This study presents a structured integrative review of UAV-based crop yield prediction and follows PRISMA-guided procedures for literature search, screening, and evidence synthesis. Seventy peer-reviewed studies published between 2018 and 2025 were synthesized within a "Data-Ground Truth-Model-Decision" framework. Beyond summarizing UAV platforms, sensor configurations, feature-engineering strategies, and model architectures, the review explicitly distinguishes among microplot, field, and regional prediction scales, and evaluates the characteristics and limitations of yield-label acquisition methods, including manual harvest, plot-combine harvest, and combine yield-monitor data. Existing evidence indicates that the reliability of UAV-based yield prediction depends not only on optimal image acquisition windows, multi-source feature fusion, and model architecture, but also on scale-consistent yield labels, spatially aware validation strategies, and clearly defined model outputs, such as plot-level scalar yield, field-scale yield maps, and regional yield estimates. Major bottlenecks include scale mismatch between UAV imagery and yield labels, error propagation during yield-map generation, limited cross-year and cross-region transferability, weak causal interpretability, and difficulties in deploying models under complex operational field conditions. Future research should emphasize scale-explicit benchmark datasets, quality-controlled ground-truth yield acquisition, UAV-satellite-ground data fusion, spatiotemporal deep learning, and edge-cloud collaborative systems that can translate prediction outputs into agronomic decisions. This review provides a practical pathway for developing robust, interpretable, and deployable UAV-based yield prediction systems for major grain and oilseed crops.

The surge of agricultural waste has become a global environmental challenge, while also containing enormous potential for resource utilization. Despite numerous studies dedicated to developing various conversion technologies, the systematic transition from linear disposal mode to circular resource mode still faces multiple bottlenecks. This review not only outlines the types and impacts of agricultural waste but also critically assesses the trade-offs and constraints of current resource utilization strategies. We found that the "high-value" utilization path (such as chemical extraction) is often constrained by high costs and complex supply chains, while large-scale pathways (such as biogas engineering) face challenges in raw material collection, process stability, and by-product consumption. In addition, there is resource competition between different utilization pathways (such as energy conversion vs. feed conversion), and environmental benefits need to be carefully evaluated from a full life-cycle perspective. Therefore, this review proposes that the breakthrough for future agricultural waste management lies in contextualized system integration, which involves designing the optimal, multi-technology collaborative management plan based on local waste characteristics, infrastructure, economic level, and policy environment. This review aims to establish an analytical framework for transforming agricultural waste from an environmental burden into a cornerstone of the circular economy.

Plant litter exists in various positions, ranging from high above the ground to deep within the soil, and its decomposition is essential for carbon storage and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the position-dependence of litter decomposition remains poorly understood, as most studies typically examine leaf and root decomposition in isolation. To address this gap, we conducted a 3-year decomposition experiment on leaf and root litter across three typical ecosystems with contrasting hydrological conditions on the Tibetan Plateau. We found that leaf litter decomposed more rapidly than root litter across all studied ecosystems, primarily due to the higher lignin content in roots. Moreover, the position of the litter played a significant role in influencing decomposition rates for both leaf and root litter. Specifically, surface leaf litter (similar to 0 cm on the ground) decomposed faster than standing leaf litter (+10 cm above the ground), while deep root litter (buried at soil depth of 30 cm) decomposed more quickly than shallow root litter (buried at soil depth of 10 cm). The decomposition of standing and surface leaf litter was primarily driven by leaf quality and microbial activity, respectively, whereas the decomposition of shallow and deep root litter was more strongly influenced by soil quality and plant traits (e.g., belowground biomass), respectively. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating the position dependence of litter decomposition into terrestrial ecosystem models to improve the prediction of carbon and nutrient cycling.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Despite growing recognition of phosphorus (P) acquisition via arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), the drivers of crop-specific variation in mycorrhizal responsiveness remain unresolved. METHODS:We quantified growth and P acquisition responses to AMF across six maize, eight cotton and nine wheat varieties under three soil Olsen-P levels (4, 18 and ≥60 mg kg-1). KEY RESULTS:AMF effects were strongly crop-dependent. Cotton exhibited consistent mutualistic responses, with increased biomass and P uptake, whereas wheat frequently showed neutral or negative growth responses, and maize responses were largely neutral. Mycorrhizal responsiveness was jointly shaped by soil P availability and root traits, peaking at intermediate Olsen-P levels. Species with finer roots exhibited stronger dependence on AMF, whereas those with coarser roots showed weaker responses. Rhizosphere pH positively modulated responsiveness under low-P conditions, while acid phosphatase activity was driven solely by soil P availability. CONCLUSIONS:These findings identify soil P gradients as a primary regulator of mycorrhizal responsiveness across crops, while highlighting root diameter and rhizosphere pH as key trait-based and environmental modulators.

Urbanization modifies local thermal and hydroclimatic conditions, but its effects on tree radial growth remain inconsistent across species and sites. We combined dendrochronological analysis with long-term climate data to examine growth responses of Cinnamomum camphora and Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium along an urban–rural gradient in Shanghai, China. We compared background climate between a suburban site (Fengxian, FX) and a rural site (Chongming, CM), identified the monthly climatic drivers of radial growth, and evaluated drought resistance and recovery during the extreme drought years of 2013 and 2022. FX was characterized by higher minimum temperature and higher vapor pressure deficit (VPD) than CM, particularly in autumn and winter. Growth responses differed markedly between species and sites. T. distichum var. imbricarium was more strongly associated with concurrent growing-season moisture conditions, especially at FX, where growth was negatively related to summer temperature and summer–autumn VPD, but positively related to summer precipitation. In contrast, C. camphora showed stronger lagged responses to previous late-season climate, mainly previous autumn temperature and VPD. Relative importance analysis indicated that precipitation and VPD explained more growth variation than temperature alone in most groups. Drought indices further revealed contrasting response strategies: C. camphora, particularly at CM, showed higher drought resistance, whereas T. distichum var. imbricarium, especially at FX, exhibited stronger post-drought recovery. Resistance–recovery relationships varied among species, sites, and drought events, suggesting event-dependent drought-response strategies. These results show that urbanization influenced tree growth primarily by altering hydroclimatic constraints, and that species-specific functional types strongly mediated growth sensitivity and drought response. Our study provides new insights into the interaction between tree functional types and local climate, and offers a scientific basis for adaptive urban forestry planning and species selection under global change.

Home plant-soil feedbacks (home-PSFs) typically demonstrate negative effects in vegetable crops, substantially inhibiting their growth. Phosphorus (P), an essential plant nutrient crucial for growth, influences vegetable crop growth patterns through soil availability levels. However, the relationship between soil available P levels and home-PSFs in vegetable crops requires further investigation. This study established a home PSF system incorporating 12 vegetable crops from 6 families to examine growth responses under two P conditions (low P level: 40 mg P kg-1 soil; high P level: 200 mg P kg-1 soil). The findings revealed that low P conditions significantly decreased overall biomass across all vegetables, with preferential biomass allocation to root development. Furthermore, low P conditions enhanced mycorrhizal colonization and rhizosphere acid phosphatase activity while notably decreasing root length. While vegetables generally exhibited negative home PSFs, allium and nonmycorrhizal plants demonstrated positive responses under high P conditions. Wild tomatoes displayed greater variation in feedback values across P levels compared to common tomatoes. Under high-P conditions, mycorrhizal colonization showed positive correlations with feedback values of biomass and P concentration. Root diameter and mycorrhizal colonization demonstrated distinct correlations with these feedback values under low-P conditions. The research concludes that high P levels effectively mitigate negative home-PSFs in vegetables while increasing biomass production. Additionally, high P levels demonstrated superior efficacy in alleviating negative home-PSFs in wild tomatoes compared to common tomatoes.

Mung bean(Vigna radiata L.)is one of the most favorite crop plants worldwide.It is often required for the precise quantification of the flowering traits during crop phenotyping and breeding.Particularly,the flowering synchrony can directly influence the population trait uniformity and varietal maturity consistency.Thereby the breeding materials can be refined to evaluate the varietal adaptability.However,the conventional semantic segmentation of flowers cannot fully meet the large-scale quantitative analysis in recent years.Some challenges remain in the low contrast with the background,such as the complex inflorescence structure of the mung bean plants,the minute size of the floral organs,their similar coloration to leaves and stems,coupled with the intense lighting variations,extensive occlusions,and overlapping in field environments.Alternatively,deep learning can be expected for the image segmentation of small targets in complex agricultural scenarios.Therefore,it is very necessary for sufficient feature extraction and model generalization to avoid the spatial information loss.In this study,an IDCA-UNet model was proposed to integrate a dual channel attention(DCA)mechanism and instance normalization(IN).The high-resolution images of the mung bean plants were also captured at the flowering and pod-setting stage using an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)remote sensing platform.According to the classic U-Net architecture,the DCA module was employed to dynamically aggregate some features from the global average pooling and max pooling,in order to realize the adaptive feature enhancement in the channel dimension.The high-resolution features effectively improved the sensitivity and recognition for the tiny flowers.Simultaneously,the Instance Normalization layers were introduced to replace the batch normalization layers.The unstable statistical estimation was avoided to reduce the internal covariate shift during small-batch training.The robustness and generalization were enhanced under complex and variable field conditions.Experimental results demonstrate that the IDCA-UNet significantly outperformed the various models,including the ResNet-UNet,YOLOv11,and DeepLabV3+in the mung bean flower segmentation task,with the mIoU,mAP,and F1 scores of 88.95％,93.47％,and 93.79％,respectively.There were the improvements of 1.62,1.48,and 0.72 percentage points,compared with the VGG16-UNet benchmark model with the Focal loss.The high-precision segmentation was further quantitatively analyzed to study the dynamic growth patterns of the mung bean plants at the flowering and pod-setting stage.The flowering dynamics exhibited the"A"-shaped growth curve with a concentrated peak flowering period after daily flower count statistics and fitting,indicating the strong flowering synchrony within the population.Therefore,important evidence can be provided to assess the varietal maturity,consistency,and suitability for mechanical harvesting.The mung bean flower segmentation can also offer a practical cross-platform application for the organ-level crop phenotyping.Multi-source remote sensing data and temporal analysis can be integrated for environmental forecasting in the future.Thereby,the finding can serve as the robust theoretical and technical support to accurately assess the crop growth status,particularly for the high yield and efficiency breeding in precision agriculture.

Restoration measures play a critical role in the recovery of fragile alpine degraded grassland ecosystems on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. However, the relationships among plant communities, soil properties, and microbial communities under integrated restoration strategies remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we investigated degraded alpine grasslands of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau using a completely randomized experimental design, which included eight treatments: no intervention as the control (C), toxic weed removal (W), fertilization (F), reseeding (S), and their combinations—fertilization + weed removal (FW), fertilization + reseeding (FS), fertilization + reseeding + weed removal (FSW), and reseeding + weed removal (SW). By assessing plant community characteristics and soil physicochemical properties in conjunction with high-throughput sequencing of soil microbial communities, we evaluated the effects of different restoration measures on plant communities, soil conditions, and microbial assemblages and further employed multivariate statistical analyses to examine their interrelationship. For plant productivity, the FS treatment produced the highest total aboveground biomass, which was 86.55% higher than that of the control (q < 0.05). For soil responses, FW significantly increased soil total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and nitrate nitrogen, whereas FS significantly increased ammonium nitrogen (q < 0.05). For microbial communities, FW significantly increased fungal Shannon and Simpson indices, while the higher bacterial α-diversity values under S and FS did not differ significantly from the control. The S treatment showed the highest mean degree and clustering coefficient in the bacterial co-occurrence network. FS showed higher predicted potentials for bacterial aerobic chemoheterotrophy and fungal saprotrophy, whereas F and FW showed higher predicted nitrate-reduction and arbuscular-mycorrhizal potentials. NMDS ordination showed clearer treatment-related separation in fungal β-diversity than in bacterial β-diversity, indicating a more evident response of fungal community composition to the restoration treatments. Collectively, this single-time-point assessment provides an integrated view of early plant, soil, and microbial responses to the restoration treatments. Given the limited temporal and spatial scope and the predictive nature of the microbial functional analysis, these findings should be regarded as exploratory and require longer-term validation.

The United Nations has designated 2021-2030 as the 'Decade on Ecosystem Restoration' to combat ecosystem degradation. Climate change and human activities are the primary drivers of this degradation, which has significantly impacted soil multifunctionality (SMF) in China's drylands. However, the effects of human activities, particularly those related to ecological restoration policies, remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the influence of climate change and human activities on five soil functions based on 18 189 observations from 841 studies in China's drylands and used machine learning methods to forecast future changes. We found that warming and precipitation changes had overall minimal effects on SMF. In contrast, nitrogen deposition improved it by 13.4%, mainly by enhancing soil nutrient supply and productivity. Human activities, particularly ecological restoration, had a greater impact on SMF than climate change. For instance, policies like the Grain for Green Program enhanced the climate regulation function by 32.2%. Further, we found that local climate conditions primarily influenced SMF responses to climate change, while the duration of restoration efforts shaped responses to human activities. Our projections of SMF under the sustainable emission scenario (SSP1-2.6) suggested that well-planned ecological restoration was likely to sustain and enhance SMF over time, particularly in hyper-arid areas. These findings highlight that human activities exert a more significant influence on SMF than climate change in China's drylands and may provide a scientific basis for sustainable management and ecological restoration of arid ecosystems. Based on a comprehensive analysis of 841 studies across China's drylands, this research reveals that human activities exert a more profound influence on soil multifunctionality than climate change. Notably, proactive ecological engineering significantly enhances soil multifunctionality, providing a vital scientific foundation for the restoration and sustainable management of dryland ecosystems. (sic)(sic):(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) 2021-2030 (sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)".(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) 841 (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) 18189 (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)((sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic))(sic)5(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), 1)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)13.4%, (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic), "(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) 32.2%.2)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).3)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(SSP1-2.6), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).

Intensive agricultural production has made continuous cropping obstacles (CCOs) a major constraint to sustainable agriculture in China. Vermicompost, a biologically active organic amendment, shows great promise for mitigating CCOs through its unique physicochemical and biological properties. This review summarizes the key characteristics of vermicompost and its multifunctional mechanisms in alleviating CCOs, including improvement of soil physicochemical properties, nutrient availability enhancement, degradation of autotoxic allelochemicals, and microbial community regulation. We also synthesize recent progress in vermicompost application across vegetable, melon, and cereal cropping systems, and evaluate the synergistic effects of its combined use with biochar, microbial inoculants, and other amendments. Current evidence demonstrates that vermicompost effectively restores soil health under continuous cropping, enhances crop stress resistance, and increases crop yield and quality. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying vermicompost action and the optimization of its synergistic effects remain poorly understood. Future research should focus on: (1) deciphering the molecular basis of vermicompost-mediated soil microbial regulation and crop stress responses; (2) establishing unified vermicompost quality standards and production protocols; and (3) developing site-specific application strategies for different soil-climate-crop systems. These advances will maximize the agricultural value of vermicompost, provide sustainable solutions for CCO management, reduce reliance on chemical inputs, and support soil health and agricultural sustainability.