Soil microbiomes in forest ecosystems act as both nutrient sources and sinks through a range of p... more Soil microbiomes in forest ecosystems act as both nutrient sources and sinks through a range of processes including organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and humic compound incorporation into the soil. Most forest soil microbial diversity studies have been performed in the northern hemisphere, and very little has been done in forests within African continent. This study examined the composition, diversity and distribution of prokaryotes in Kenyan forests top soils using amplicon sequencing of V4-V5 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Additionally, soil physicochemical characteristics were measured to identify abiotic drivers of prokaryotic distribution. Different forest soils were found to have statistically distinct microbiome compositions, with Proteobacteria and Crenarchaeota taxa being the most differentially abundant across regions within bacterial and archaeal phyla, respectively. Key bacterial community drivers included pH, Ca, K, Fe, and total N while archae...
BackgroundTop-soil microbiomes make a vital contribution to the Earth’s ecology and harbor an ext... more BackgroundTop-soil microbiomes make a vital contribution to the Earth’s ecology and harbor an extraordinarily high biodiversity. They are also key players in many ecosystem services, particularly in arid regions of the globe such as the African continent. While several recent studies have documented patterns in global soil microbial ecology, these are largely biased towards widely studied regions and rely on models to interpolate the microbial diversity of other regions where there is low data coverage. This is the case for sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of regional microbial studies is very low in comparison to other continents.ResultsThe aim of this study was to conduct an extensive biogeographical survey of sub-Saharan Africa’s top-soil microbiomes, with a specific focus on investigating the environmental drivers of microbial ecology across the region. In this study, we sampled 810 sample sites across 9 sub-Saharan African countries and used taxonomic barcoding to profile t...
This study was done at Mlughi Agricultural demonstration farm in Bura, Taita Taveta County-Kenya ... more This study was done at Mlughi Agricultural demonstration farm in Bura, Taita Taveta County-Kenya to test upland rice varietal performance and di-ammonium fertilizer effects on panicle characteristics and yield parameter. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used with seven upland rice varieties and three fertilizer levels. The treatments were replicated thrice to give a total of 63 treatment combinations or plots. The experiment was carried out for two seasons (short rains from October to December 2018 and long rains from March to May 2019). The upland rice varieties included 17KH09010014B, 17KH09010093B, AT 058, China Hybrid, NERICA 1, NERICA 4, and NERICA 10. The fertilizer treatments were di-ammonium phosphate fertilizer (DAP), farm yard manure (FYM), and a control of no fertilizer. Topdressing was done at the flowering stage with NPK fertilizer. Data collected included plant height, number of leaves, tiller number, panicle length, spikelets count per panicle, grain yiel...
Total diversity Sequence Read Archive metadata sheet of the samples collected from the hot spring... more Total diversity Sequence Read Archive metadata sheet of the samples collected from the hot springs of L. Magadi and Little Magadi (XLSX 50 kb)
Soil microbiomes in forest ecosystems act as both nutrient sources and sinks through a range of p... more Soil microbiomes in forest ecosystems act as both nutrient sources and sinks through a range of processes including organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and humic compound incorporation into the soil. Most forest soil microbial diversity studies have been performed in the northern hemisphere, and very little has been done in forests within African continent. This study examined the composition, diversity and distribution of prokaryotes in Kenyan forests top soils using amplicon sequencing of V4-V5 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Additionally, soil physicochemical characteristics were measured to identify abiotic drivers of prokaryotic distribution. Different forest soils were found to have statistically distinct microbiome compositions, with Proteobacteria and Crenarchaeota taxa being the most differentially abundant across regions within bacterial and archaeal phyla, respectively. Key bacterial community drivers included pH, Ca, K, Fe, and total N while archae...
BackgroundTop-soil microbiomes make a vital contribution to the Earth’s ecology and harbor an ext... more BackgroundTop-soil microbiomes make a vital contribution to the Earth’s ecology and harbor an extraordinarily high biodiversity. They are also key players in many ecosystem services, particularly in arid regions of the globe such as the African continent. While several recent studies have documented patterns in global soil microbial ecology, these are largely biased towards widely studied regions and rely on models to interpolate the microbial diversity of other regions where there is low data coverage. This is the case for sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of regional microbial studies is very low in comparison to other continents.ResultsThe aim of this study was to conduct an extensive biogeographical survey of sub-Saharan Africa’s top-soil microbiomes, with a specific focus on investigating the environmental drivers of microbial ecology across the region. In this study, we sampled 810 sample sites across 9 sub-Saharan African countries and used taxonomic barcoding to profile t...
This study was done at Mlughi Agricultural demonstration farm in Bura, Taita Taveta County-Kenya ... more This study was done at Mlughi Agricultural demonstration farm in Bura, Taita Taveta County-Kenya to test upland rice varietal performance and di-ammonium fertilizer effects on panicle characteristics and yield parameter. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used with seven upland rice varieties and three fertilizer levels. The treatments were replicated thrice to give a total of 63 treatment combinations or plots. The experiment was carried out for two seasons (short rains from October to December 2018 and long rains from March to May 2019). The upland rice varieties included 17KH09010014B, 17KH09010093B, AT 058, China Hybrid, NERICA 1, NERICA 4, and NERICA 10. The fertilizer treatments were di-ammonium phosphate fertilizer (DAP), farm yard manure (FYM), and a control of no fertilizer. Topdressing was done at the flowering stage with NPK fertilizer. Data collected included plant height, number of leaves, tiller number, panicle length, spikelets count per panicle, grain yiel...
Total diversity Sequence Read Archive metadata sheet of the samples collected from the hot spring... more Total diversity Sequence Read Archive metadata sheet of the samples collected from the hot springs of L. Magadi and Little Magadi (XLSX 50 kb)
Uploads
Papers