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.
1
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.
2
Hydrogels specifically suppressed the fungal phylum Ascomycota and the genera Talaromyces, Chaetomium, and Cladorrhinum — groups that include important decomposers and biocontrol agents.
3
Both prosulfocarb and hydrogels shifted the soil fungal community toward dominance by plant pathogens, with reduced proportions of beneficial saprotrophs, endophytes, and parasites.
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