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Impacts of continuous excessive fertilization on soil potential nitrification activity and nitrifying microbial community dynamics in greenhouse system

  • Soils, Sec 5 • Soil and Landscape Ecology • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Sampling and analysis of greenhouse soils were conducted in Shouguang, China, to study continuous excessive fertilization effect on nitrifying microbial community dynamics in greenhouse environment.

Materials and methods

Potential nitrification activity (PNA), abundance, and structure of nitrifying microbial communities as well as the correlations with soil properties were investigated.

Results and discussion

Short-term excessive fertilization increased soil nutrient contents and the diversity of nitrifying microbial communities under greenhouse cultivation. However, the abundance and diversity of nitrifying communities decreased greatly due to the increase of soil acidity and salinity after 14 years of high fertilization in greenhouse. There was a significant positive correlation between soil PNA and the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) but not that of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in topsoil (0–20 cm) when pH ≥7. Soil PNA and AOB were strongly influenced by soil pH. The groups of Nitrososphaeraceae, Nitrosomonadaceae, and Nitrospiraceae were predominant in the AOA, AOB, and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) communities, respectively. Nitrifying community structure was significantly correlated with soil electrical salinity (EC), organic carbon (OC), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3 −–N) content by redundancy analysis (RDA).

Conclusions

Nitrification was predominated by AOB in greenhouse topsoil with high fertilizer loads. Soil salinity, OC, NO3 −–N content, and pH affected by continuous excessive fertilization were the major edaphic factors in shaping nitrifying community structure in greenhouse soils.

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Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by the National Key Technology Support Program (2014BAD14B04), the National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB100502), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41571450, 41271470, 41571215).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Jiangpei Han, Jiachun Shi, Lingzao Zeng & Jianming Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Jiangpei Han

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Laosheng Wu

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  1. Jiangpei Han
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  2. Jiachun Shi
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  3. Lingzao Zeng
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  4. Jianming Xu
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  5. Laosheng Wu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiachun Shi or Laosheng Wu.

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Responsible editor: Yanfen Wang

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Han, J., Shi, J., Zeng, L. et al. Impacts of continuous excessive fertilization on soil potential nitrification activity and nitrifying microbial community dynamics in greenhouse system. J Soils Sediments 17, 471–480 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1525-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-016-1525-z

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