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Influence of the nitrification inhibitor DMPP on the community composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria at microsites with increasing distance from the fertilizer zone

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Abstract

The effect of the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) on N transformations and composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) communities was investigated at the centimeter scale in a microcosm experiment under laboratory conditions. After 28 days, samples were collected from soil treated with urea or urea and DMPP at increasing distance from the fertilizer zone; this distance ranged from 0 to 5 cm in both horizontal and vertical directions. The results showed that DMPP application significantly increased soil pH and NH +4 -N and mineral N (NH +4 -N, NO −3 -N, and NO −2 -N) concentrations but decreased (NO −3 + NO −2 )-N concentration, and such effect was decreased by increasing the distance from the fertilizer zone. Fingerprint profiles of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis showed that the number of bands decreased by increasing the distance from the fertilizer zone due to decreasing NH +4 -N concentrations in the urea treatment. Compared to urea applied alone, DMPP application increased NH +4 -N concentrations and decreased AOB diversity from 0 to 3 cm but promoted diversity from 3 to 5 cm distance from the fertilizer zone. A phylogenetic analysis showed that AOB communities were dominated by Nitrosospira cluster 3. Therefore, the nitrification inhibitor DMPP modified the composition of AOB communities by increasing the distance from the fertilizer zone and this probably was related to the changes in soil pH and inorganic N concentration.

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Abbreviations

DMPP:

3,4-Dimethylpyrazole phosphate

AOA:

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea

AOB:

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria

DCD:

Dicyandiamide

DGGE:

Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the support from the National Foundation of Sciences in China (30970537, 40901118), the National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB109301), and PADA (Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions). We thank Misses Jingjing Xu and Huan Chen for their help in the laboratory. We also thank Dr. Anne Baily from Teagasc, Environment Research Centre of Ireland for the comments that helped improve the language of the manuscript.

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  1. Soil Ecology Lab, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, People’s Republic of China

    Jianbo Yang, Xuechao Li, Li Xu, Feng Hu, Huixin Li & Manqiang Liu

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  1. Jianbo Yang
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  2. Xuechao Li
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  3. Li Xu
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Correspondence to Manqiang Liu.

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Yang, J., Li, X., Xu, L. et al. Influence of the nitrification inhibitor DMPP on the community composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria at microsites with increasing distance from the fertilizer zone. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 23–30 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0692-3

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