PubMed · 2026-05-15
A common wheat herbicide (prosulfocarb) and soil-water-retention polymers (hydrogels) both disrupt the beneficial fungal communities living in agricultural soil, reducing diversity and shifting the balance toward plant pathogens.
Prosulfocarb significantly inhibited the growth of all identified fungal groups and reduced four separate diversity measures (Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, Pielou, and Evenness) compared to untreated soil.
Hydrogels specifically suppressed the fungal phylum Ascomycota and the genera Talaromyces, Chaetomium, and Cladorrhinum — groups that include important decomposers and biocontrol agents.
Both prosulfocarb and hydrogels shifted the soil fungal community toward dominance by plant pathogens, with reduced proportions of beneficial saprotrophs, endophytes, and parasites.
