Straw mulching and nitrogen application altered ammonia oxidizers communities and improved soil quality in the alkaline purple soil of southwest China

• DOI: 10.1186/s13568-021-01211-x
• Publication Date: 2021-04-07T08:04:04Z
• Authors: Songhe Chen; Rencai Gao; Xiaoling Xiang; Hongkun Yang; Hongliang Ma; Ting Zheng; Yun Xiao; Xue Zhang; Han Li; Gaoqiong Fan; Yang Yu
• Keywords: Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria; 2. Zero hunger; 0303 health sciences; Nitrogen; 15. Life on land; Straw mulching; Microbiology; QR1-502; 6. Clean water; Ammonia-oxidizing archaea; 03 medical and health sciences; Alkaline purple soil; AmoA genes; Original Article; TP248.13-248.65; Biotechnology

AbstractMicrobe-mediated ammonia oxidation is a key process in soil nitrogen cycle. However, the effect of maize straw mulching on the ammonia oxidizers in the alkaline purple soil remains largely unknown. A three-year positioning experiment was designed as follows: straw mulching measures as the main-plot treatment and three kinds of nitrogen application as the sub-plot treatment. We found the contents of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available potassium (AK), available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and NH4+-N were increased after straw mulching and nitrogen application in alkaline purple soil, so did theamoAgenes abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaeal (AOA) and bacterial (AOB). Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis revealed thatThaumarchaeote(448-bp T-RF) was dominated the AOA communities, whereasNitrosospirasp (111-bp T-RF) dominated the AOB communities. The community compositions of both AOA and AOB were altered by straw mulching and nitrogen application in alkaline purple soil, however, the AOB communities was more responsive than AOA communities to the straw mulching and nitrogen application. Further analysis indicated that SOC and AP were the main factors affecting the abundance and community compositions of AOA and AOB in alkaline purple soil. The present study reported that straw mulching and nitrogen strategies differently shape the soil ammonia oxidizers community structure and abundance, which should be considered when evaluating agricultural management strategies regarding their sustainability and soil quality.