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Response of soil microbial communities to additions of straw biochar, iron oxide, and iron oxide–modified straw biochar in an arsenic-contaminated soil

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Abstract

Anthropogenic activities have caused extensive arsenic (As) contamination in soils. The role of biochar in the remediation of As-contaminated soils has been attracting attention lately. In this study, effects of straw biochar, iron oxide, and iron oxide–modified biochar on soil microbial community composition and soil chemical properties were tested in an As-contaminated soil. After 9 months of incubation, soil chemical properties and microbial communities were analyzed. Our results showed that biochar addition significantly increased soil pH value, soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration, and the ratio of soil carbon to nitrogen (soil C:N ratio) but decreased soil dissolved organic C. Adding iron oxide also increased soil pH value, while iron oxide–modified biochar decreased it. Interestingly, compared with the control, all treatments significantly decreased soil total microbial biomass and biomasses of soil bacteria, fungi, Actinomyces, and protozoa. In addition, significantly positive correlations were found between soil pH and soil total microbial biomass as well as bacterial, Actinomyces, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal biomass. There were negative relationships between SOC, soil C:N ratio, and all soil microbial biomass indicators in all treatments. These results indicated that biochar and iron oxide–modified biochar affected soil microbial community composition by altering the soil C:N ratio, but iron oxide affected it via adjusting soil pH. Furthermore, the iron oxide–modified biochar effects on soil microbial community and soil chemical properties are not the same as the additive effects of biochar and iron oxide alone, and its effect on soil microbial community is regulated by the soil C:N ratio. These findings will help guide the development of remediation practices for As-contaminated soil using biochar.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sean Bloszies for his help in refining the language of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600174, 31671635), the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2018JJ3148), Research Foundation of Education Bureau of Hunan Province, China (16C0631), and the Open Fund of Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Coal Resources Clean-Utilization and Mine Environment Protection, Hunan University of Science and Technology (E21503).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Economic Crops Genetic Improvement and Integrated Utilization, School of Life Science, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Yu Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Safe Utilization of Heavy Metal-polluted Soils, Colleges and Universities of Hunan Province, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Yu Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China

    Cancan Zhao

  4. Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Coal Resources Clean-utilization and Mine Environment Protection, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Guoliang Chen, Jianlin Zhou, Zhang Chen, Zhixian Li, Tao Feng & Yuanqi Chen

  5. School of Resource & Environment and Safety Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Jiawen Zhu, Tao Feng & Yuanqi Chen

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  1. Yu Zhang
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  2. Cancan Zhao
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  3. Guoliang Chen
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  5. Zhang Chen
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Zhang, Y., Zhao, C., Chen, G. et al. Response of soil microbial communities to additions of straw biochar, iron oxide, and iron oxide–modified straw biochar in an arsenic-contaminated soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 23761–23768 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08829-7

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