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Increasing soil salinization can severely restrict local agricultural production. Planting alfalfa is considered an effective measure to ameliorate saline–alkali soil. However, it remains unclear how alfalfa planting years affect the sustained impact on soil and rhizosphere microecology. This study analyzed the effects of alfalfa planted 3, 6, and 8 years ago on soil physicochemical properties and key soil enzyme activities and investigated the rhizosphere microbial community structure and diversity. The results indicate that cultivating alfalfa plants for six years can improve soil physicochemical properties and enhance soil fertility to a certain extent. This is attributed to a higher abundance of plant growth-promoting bacteria, such as Bradyrhizobium and Allorhizobium, as well as degradation bacteria, such as Flavobacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Brevundimonas, and Massilia, in the rhizosphere of alfalfa plants. These microorganisms promote alfalfa growth, improve soil quality, and inhibit the accumulation of autotoxins. This not only maintains high alfalfa yields but also optimizes soil physicochemical properties and enzyme activity, facilitating more effective nutrient cycling and metabolic processes in the soil. However, extending plant growth to 8 years is not beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the cell behaviors of rat primary osteoblast cells on extracellular matrix (ECM) protein micropatterns. For this purpose, a series of fibronectin micropatterns with different shapes and varying dimensions were created on polystyrene (PS) surfaces by microcontact printing. The results of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images indicated that excellent micropatterns were successfully obtained. These protein patterns were stable during the cell culture. The cell experiments suggested that the osteoblast cells preferentially attached onto protein-functionalized areas and displayed different cell shape and spreading behavior on different protein micropatterns. The protein micropatterns can significantly influence the cell adhesion, spreading, alignment and orientation and so on. Therefore, this work can be used to modify biomaterial surfaces, especially that of bone-implant biomaterials, to effectively control cell behavior. It further contributes to clarify the interfacial biological behaviors between biomaterials and osteoblast and can provide the cues for development of bone implantable materials which is able to modulate osteoblast cell growth behavior.