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Distinct effect of nitrogen fertilisation and soil depth on nitrous oxide emissions and nitrifiers and denitrifiers abundance

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Abstract

The nitrous oxide and molecular N emissions from 5-cm length subsamples taken from 20-cm length sample corers containing eutric Cambisol soil fertilised either with urea, ammonium or nitrate for 1 year have been examined using gas chromatography. At the beginning of the incubation, the same N rate (260 kg N/ha) was added to the soil and kept constant during the experiment. The total abundance of the soil Bacteria and Archaea and that of nitrifiers and denitrifiers was estimated by quantitative PCR of the corresponding biotic variables 16S rRNA, amoA and napA, narG, nirK, nirS, norB, nosZI and nosZII genes. The abiotic variables dissolved oxygen, pH, exchangeable NH4+-N and NO3−-N contents and total C and total N were also analysed. None of the three fertilisers affected the total abundance of Bacteria and Archaea and nitrification was the main driver of nitrous oxide production in the 0- to 5-cm and 5- to 10-cm soil layers while denitrification was in the 10- to 15-cm and 15- to 20-cm soil horizons. Parallel to the reduction in the content of dissolved oxygen along the soil profile, there was a decrease in the total and relative abundance of the bacterial and archaeal amoA gene and an increase in the abundances of the denitrification genes, mainly in the 10- to 15-cm and 15- to 20-cm soil layers. A non-metric multidimensional scaling plot comparing the biotic and abiotic variables examined in each of the four 5-cm soil subsamples and the whole 20-cm sample showed a disparate effect of N fertilisation on N gas emissions and abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers bacterial and archaeal communities.

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Funding

This study was supported by the ERDF-cofinanced grant PEAGR2012-1968 from Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia (Junta de Andalucía, Spain) and the MINECO-CSIC Agreement RECUPERA 2020. ACH is recipient of a grant of MECD (FPU 2014/01633).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Microbiology and Symbiotic Systems, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, P.O. Box 419, 18080, Granada, Spain

    Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa & Eulogio J. Bedmar

  2. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Campus Cartuja, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa & Jesús González-López

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  1. Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa
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  2. Jesús González-López
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  3. Eulogio J. Bedmar
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Correspondence to Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa.

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Castellano-Hinojosa, A., González-López, J. & Bedmar, E.J. Distinct effect of nitrogen fertilisation and soil depth on nitrous oxide emissions and nitrifiers and denitrifiers abundance. Biol Fertil Soils 54, 829–840 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-018-1310-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-018-1310-9

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