Abstract
Sustainable agriculture relies on the use of herbicides to preserve soil carbon and minimize disturbance to the soil structure. Glyphosate and atrazine, widespread and frequently used herbicides in South America, can affect soil microbial populations involved in nutrient recycling. In this work, the effect of commercial glyphosate and atrazine on denitrifying and diazotrophic populations has been compared. A soil without a history of previous herbicide application was incubated with one or several doses of herbicide, which was monitored along the experiment, and the microbial rate of denitrification and N2 fixation, the abundance of specific genes nirS, nirK, nosZ, nifH and the community structure of diazotrophs were analyzed. One dose of glyphosate or atrazine increased by 55% and 54%, respectively, the rate of N2 fixation and significantly reduced the rate of N2O production by incomplete denitrifiers. Long time exposure to glyphosate increased the abundance of nirK, nosZ, and nifH genes, but atrazine significantly reduced the nosZ gene density. Remarkably, diazotrophs belonging to the Bradyrhizobium genus, predominant in this soil, constituted a resilient population that became enriched after incubation with glyphosate or atrazine. Therefore, short and long-exposure to glyphosate and atrazine modifies the performance and survival of diazotrophs and denitrifiers in soil impacting the N biogeochemical cycle and the soil quality.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to the MSc. Nadia Martin who did excellent technical work by performing many analyses and by contributing with enthusiasm to the accomplishment of this project. The authors are grateful to MSc. Lucas Martinez Arocena, who contributed to the analysis of the residual atrazine concentration.
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This study was funded by the I + D Grant number 815 of the Comisión Sectorial de Investigación Científica (CISC) of the Universidad de la República (Udelar), Uruguay. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
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Ferrando, L., Bellini, M.I. & Fernández-Scavino, A. Differential response of denitrifying and diazotrophic soil populations to short and long-term exposure of glyphosate and atrazine. Environmental Sustainability 6, 229–242 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-023-00270-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-023-00270-z