{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T06:02:12Z","timestamp":1789970532125,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Soil physicochemical heterogeneity and rhizosphere microbial communities jointly influence plant nutrient acquisition and crop performance, yet their relative associations with strawberry nutritional status and productivity remain poorly understood in acidic agricultural soils. In this study, soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, bacterial community diversity and composition, leaf mineral status, agronomic traits, and fruit quality were systematically characterized across strawberry cultivation sites. Mantel tests, redundancy analysis (RDA), and partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) were used to examine the relationships among soil conditions, microbial communities, plant mineral nutrition, and strawberry performance. Pronounced spatial variation was detected in soil nutrient status, electrical conductivity (EC), bacterial community structure, leaf mineral composition, agronomic traits, and fruit-quality characteristics. Bacterial richness indices, particularly ACE and Chao1, were more strongly associated with leaf mineral accumulation than individual soil physicochemical variables or enzyme activities. In contrast, fungal Shannon and Simpson diversity indices showed stronger associations with variation in fruit quality, indicating that bacterial and fungal community attributes were differentially related to distinct components of strawberry performance. Path analysis further indicated that soil physicochemical properties were indirectly associated with plant traits primarily through bacterial \u03b1-diversity, with a particularly strong pathway linking microbial diversity to leaf mineral status. Soil-related variables accounted for a greater proportion of the variation in agronomic traits than in fruit quality. Moreover, soils enriched in different bacterial genera were associated with contrasting leaf Zn and Fe concentrations, potentially reflecting taxon-specific responses to micronutrient conditions. Spearman correlation analysis further revealed trait-specific relationships among soil fertility, mineral profiles, vegetative performance, and fruit quality, suggesting that nutrient status was differentially associated with growth and quality attributes rather than reflecting a generalized trade-off. Collectively, these results indicate complementary but distinct microbial associations: bacterial richness was more strongly associated with variation in leaf mineral profiles, whereas fungal diversity showed more specific relationships with fruit-quality traits. Rhizosphere microbial community attributes may therefore serve as potential ecological indicators of variation in strawberry nutritional status and fruit quality, rather than as experimentally validated causal drivers of plant performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1927019","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T05:35:55Z","timestamp":1789968955000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Spatial associations among soil physicochemical properties, rhizosphere microbiota, leaf mineral status, agronomic traits, and fruit quality of white strawberry in acidic soils"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yan","family":"Zha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenfei","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shaoqiang","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoming","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Lvying Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunnan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenguo","family":"Lai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyuan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianrong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hong","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biotechnology Research, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aichun","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Center, Hangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhaoli","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Horticulture Station, Agricultural Technology Extension Center of Linping District","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1442-9993.2001.01070.x","article-title":"A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance","volume":"26","author":"Anderson","year":"2001","journal-title":"Austral Ecol."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.16882\/HortiS.1330523","article-title":"The effect of the application of mycorrhiza on vegetative growth, mineral element intake, and some biochemical characteristics of strawberry seedlings under lime stress","volume":"40","author":"Balc\u0131","year":"2023","journal-title":"Hortic. 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