Physical and chemical properties and microbial community characteristics of the rhizosphere soil of Lamiophlomis rotata distributed in different regions of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Lamiophlomis rotata is an important medicinal plant unique to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, and determining the physicochemical properties and microbial community composition of the rhizosphere soil of L. rotata will make a valuable contribution to enhancing the development and promoting the characteristic biological resources of this region. In this study, we determined the physical and chemical indicators in rhizosphere soil collected from five main L. rotata-producing areas on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Using high-throughput sequencing technology and combining Spearman correlation, redundancy, and other analyses, we characterized the composition and diversity of the soil microbial community. Our findings indicated that L. rotata preferentially grows in neutral to alkaline soils. Candidatus_Udaeobacter, RB41, and Ferruginibacter were identified as the dominant bacterial genera in the rhizosphere soil of L. rotata, whereas Mortierella, Thelebolus, and Geotrichum were identified as the predominant fungal genera. In addition, we detected significant differences among the different regions with respect to the diversity and richness of the rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities. The abundance of soil bacterial communities was found to be highest in the ZD region and lowest in DW region, whereas the highest and lowest diversities of soil fungal communities were detected in the DW and XW regions, respectively. Furthermore, soil organic carbon and total nitrogen contents were established to be key environmental factors influencing the distribution of microbial communities in the rhizosphere soil of L. rotata, and Candidatus_Udaeobacter, Telmatobacter, Flaviaesturariibacter, Seimatosporium, and Ochronectria were identified as the key core microbial communities. The findings of this study will provide a theoretical basis for screening beneficial functional bacteria for promoting the growth and biocontrol of L. rotata.