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Agricultural factors affecting methane oxidation in arable soil

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Abstract

CH4 oxidation activity in a sandy soil (Ardoyen) and agricultural practices affecting this oxidation were studied under laboratory conditions. CH4 oxidation in the soil proved to be a biological process. The instantaneous rate of CH4 consumption was in the order of 800 μmol CH4 kg−1 day−1 (13 mg CH4 kg−1 day−1) provided the soil was treated with ca. 4.0 mmol CH4 kg−1 soil. Upon repeated supplies of a higher dose of CH4, the oxidation was accelerated to a rate of at least 198 mg CH4 kg−1 day−1. Addition of the plant-growth promoting rhizopseudomonad strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa 7NSK2 and Pseudomonas fluorescens ANP15 significantly decreased the CH4 oxidation by 20 to 30% during a 5-day incubation. However, with further incubation this suppression was no longer detectable. Growing maize plants prevented the suppression of CH4 oxidation. The numbers of methanotrophic bacteria and fungi increased significantly after the addition of CH4, but there were no significant shifts in the population of total bacteria and fluorescent pseudomonads. Drying and rewetting of soil for at least 1 day significantly reduced the activity of the indigenous methanotrophs. Upon rewetting, their activity was regained after a lag phase of about 3 days. The herbicide dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) had a strong negative effect on CH4 oxidation. The application of 5 ppm increased the time for CH4 removal; at concentrations above 25 ppm 2,4-D CH4−oxidizing activity was completely hampered. After 3 days of delay, only the treatments with below 25 ppm 2,4-D showed recovery of CH4−oxidizing activity. This finding suggests that it can be important to include a CH4−removal bioassay in ecotoxicology studies of the side effects of pesticides. Changes in the native soil pH also affected the CH4−oxidizing capacity. Permanent inhibition occurred when the soil pH was altered by 2 pH units, and partial inhibition by 1 pH unit change. A rather narrow pH range (5.9–7.7) appeared to allow CH4 oxidation. Soils pre-incubated with NH +4 had a lower CH4−removal capacity. Moreover, the nitrification inhibitor 2-chloro-6-trichloromethyl pyridine (nitrapyrin) strongly inhibited CH4 oxidation. Probably methanotrophs rather than nitrifying microorganisms are mainly responsible for CH4 removal in the soil studied. It appears that the causal methanotrophs are remarkably sensitive to soil environmental disturbances.

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  1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, Coupure Links 653, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    M. A. Syamsul Arif, F. Houwen & W. Verstraete

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  1. M. A. Syamsul Arif
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  2. F. Houwen
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  3. W. Verstraete
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Syamsul Arif, M.A., Houwen, F. & Verstraete, W. Agricultural factors affecting methane oxidation in arable soil. Biol Fertil Soils 21, 95–102 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335999

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