Effect of Deep Placement Fertilization on Soybean (Glycine max L.) Development in Albic Black Soil

Maximizing the agricultural output on inherently infertile land and minimizing the environmental cost remain central research imperatives. Albic black soil typifies such infertility. Conventional practice relies on fertilization and straw incorporation, but the albic layer’s impermeability funnels applied nutrients into adjacent aquatic systems. Therefore, this study developed deep placement fertilization by lodging fertilizer directly within the albic layer to block hydrologic loss. The feasibility of mechanization was first validated in pot experiments. Soybeans were allocated to six treatments simulating fertilizer placement at different soil depths: control (C), control and fertilizer (CF), surface soil mixing (SM), surface soil mixing and fertilizer (SMF), plow pan soil mixing (PM), and plow pan soil mixing and fertilizer (PMF). The treatments used 20 cm tillage, and the data were collected after 15, 25, and 35 days and at harvest. Integrative transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and soil microbiome profiling revealed that fertilizer positioned at 25 cm in the albic layer increased yield, restructured the rhizobiont community and promoted arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization. Among the fertilizer treatments, CF had the best growth, and SMF was inhibited by a nutrient shortage. SMF and PMF lost water faster than CF. Abscisic acid (ABA) conveyed the subterranean fertilization signal to the leaf. The enrichment of Vicinamibacterales, Xanthobacteraceae, and Glomeromycota in soil lowered the ABA content in the roots, which upregulated thymidine kinase and peroxidase upon arrival in the leaf, increasing yield. These findings provide a transferable benchmark for any parent material exhibiting poor hydraulic conductivity.