Replacing nitrogen fertilizer with organic alternatives changes the soil microbial community diversity in Northwest China's arid farmland, leading to increased potato yields.

Northwest China, a major potato-producing region, relies heavily on chemical nitrogen fertilizers to maintain yields. In this arid area with limited rainfall and low soil organic matter, however, excessive nitrogen use impairs soil structure and disturbs nutrient balance, ultimately degrading soil quality and undermining sustainable agriculture. Therefore, understanding whether organic fertilizers can replace chemical nitrogen to improve soil quality and stabilize yields is essential. In this study, we applied six fertilization treatments and used 16S rRNA and ITS high-throughput sequencing to analyze potato rhizosphere microbial communities. We found that replacing 60% of chemical nitrogen with organic fertilizer was the optimal strategy for potato production in this arid region; this substitution increased potato yields by 8.23% compared with chemical fertilizer alone. This substitution also significantly reduced soil bulk density, enhanced the formation and stability of soil water-stable aggregates, and increased the levels of total nitrogen (TN), soil organic carbon (SOC), ammonium (NH