Abstract
Background and aims
Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition alters the priming effect (PE), which is defined as the change in native soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition by exogenous C inputs. However, how the priming intensity varies under chemically heterogeneous N deposition, particularly with increasing labile C input, remains unclear.
Methods
We collected soils from a temperate forest in northeastern China that had received simulated organic and/or inorganic N deposition for 6 years. The soils were incubated with or without three levels of 13C-labelled glucose solution for 152 days. CO2 emission and its 13C value were continuously measured to calculate the PE.
Results
Enhanced SOC decomposition (i.e., a positive PE) was observed after glucose addition, regardless of the N deposition form. The PE intensity increased with the increase in the glucose addition level. However, organic N decreased the PE by 12.3-23.2%. The SOC-derived microbial biomass was 16.2-34.3% lower in organic N-treated soil, indicating that preferential utilization of exogenous labile C by microorganisms was responsible for the decrease in PE. The PE inhibition by organic N increased nonlinearly as a function of glucose level. Furthermore, the net annual change in SOC as a balance between the replenishment of added glucose-C and primed C was larger in organic N-treated soil due to a decrease in soil microbial metabolic quotient.
Conclusions
In this study, we found that organic N deposition inhibited the PE, and the inhibition effect was intensified with increasing C inputs, favouring SOC sequestration.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Bahar S. Razavi for her help with the paper improvement. We also thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions to improve this manuscript. This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant No. 2016YFA0600801) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 31830015 and 31570466). The publication was financially supported by the “RUDN University Program 5-100”.
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Tian, P., Liu, S., Wang, Q. et al. Organic N deposition favours soil C sequestration by decreasing priming effect. Plant Soil 445, 439–451 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04331-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04331-3