Field Crop 2024, Vol.7, No.4, 191-200 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 194 Figure 2 Beta-diversity analysis. (A) Matrix heat map of UniFrac; Beta-diversity matrix heatmap visualizes the Beta-diversity data and graphically clusters the samples and samples with similar beta diversity are clustered together to reflect similarities between samples. (B) UniFrac multi-sample similarity tree assessment; the distance matrix derived from Unifrac analysis is used in a wide range of analysis methods. The non-weighted group averaging method unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) in hierarchical clustering is used to construct graphical visualization processing such as a phylogenetic tree, that can visually show the similarity and differences in microbial evolution in different environmental samples (Adopted from Singh et al., 2022) Singh et al. (2022) analyzes the beta-diversity of endophytic bacterial communities across different tissues (roots, stems, leaves) of various sugarcane species. The results, visualized through a heat map and hierarchical clustering dendrogram, reveal distinct microbial community structures associated with specific tissue types. Roots from different sugarcane species tend to cluster together, indicating similar microbial compositions, while leaves and stems form separate clusters. This suggests that endophytic bacterial communities are tissue-specific and may be influenced by the unique environmental conditions and physiological functions of each tissue. The clear separation between the microbial communities in roots compared to other tissues highlights the complexity and diversity of endophytic bacteria in sugarcane, with potential implications for crop health and productivity. 3.3 Economic and environmental benefits The integration of BNF into sugarcane cultivation can lead to substantial economic and environmental benefits. Economically, reducing the reliance on synthetic N fertilizers can lower production costs and increase profitability for farmers. For example, the use of cover crops has been shown to provide an annual N fertilizer replacement of 9 to 15 kg ha⁻¹, translating to significant cost savings (Tenelli et al., 2021). Environmentally, BNF can mitigate the adverse effects of excessive fertilizer use, such as greenhouse gas emissions and soil degradation. Studies have highlighted that optimizing BNF can reduce nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation (Yang et al., 2020). Additionally, the use of organic amendments and biofertilizers can enhance soil health and biodiversity, promoting sustainable agricultural practices (Soumare et al., 2022; Junior et al., 2023).
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