While the outcomes of various agricultural practices and techniques are important to know, understanding the microbial content of that soil can also be beneficial. Bacteria in agricultural soil plays a critical role in nutrient cycling, specifically carbon and nitrogen cycling, therefore identifying the types of bacteria present across a variety of agricultural practices can be advantageous to the success of the crops themselves. For this study, the goal is to identify and categorize the bacteria present across a variety of corn cropping systems. Soil samples from various plots set up at The University of Wisconsin Extension Farm at Arlington were obtained and analyzed. The cropping systems in this study include conventional and organic methods as well as five different crop rotation techniques, each with four replications. Three soil samples from each of the 20 different plots were collected with 15cm x 2.5cm soil cores, resulting in a total of 60 samples for analysis. DNA was isolated from each of the samples. Illumina next-generation DNA sequencing was performed on PCR products amplified using 16S Illumina barcoded primers for each of the samples. The Qiime pipeline will be used to identify and assess community diversity and structure. Identifying these microbes will be useful for Midwest farmers in understanding how to maintain bacterial diversity within the soil based on the agricultural practice. The data presented will include an in-depth analysis of the bacteria present in each method of corn farming represented in the plots from which the sample originated.
