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Regulation of nitrogen acquisition in vegetables by different impacts on autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification

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Abstract

Aims

The understanding of the interactions between N transformations and N uptake by plants in greenhouse soils with large N accumulation is still not clear. The aim is to understand the plant- soil interactions (vegetables) on N transformations with respect to N supply.

Methods

15N tracing studies were conducted in two greenhouse soils to simultaneously quantify soil gross N transformation and plant N uptake rates using the Ntraceplant tool. Results There were significant feedbacks between vegetable N uptake and soil gross N transformation rates in the rhizospheric soil, whether soil N accumulation occurred or not. Plant NO3− uptake rates (UNO3) were higher than the NH4+ uptake rates (UNH4), which is consistent with the NO3−-preference of the vegetable plants studied. While UNH4 was still responsible for 6–49% of total N uptake rates, significantly negative relationships between UNH4 and NH4+ immobilization rate and autotrophic nitrification rate (ONH4) were observed. ONH4 was significantly inhibited in the presence of plants and decreased with time. ONH4 (1.11 mg N kg−1 d−1) was much lower than UNO3 (8.29 mg N kg−1 d−1) in the presence of plants. However, heterotrophic nitrification rate (ONrec), which ranged from 0.10 to 8.11 mg N kg−1 d−1 was significantly stimulated and was responsible for 5–97% of NO3− production in all plant treatments, providing additional NO3− to meet N requirements of plants and microorganisms.

Conclusions

The management of organic N fertilizers should be improved to stimulate inorganic N production via heterotrophic nitrification in greenhouse cultivation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41830642, and U20A20107], the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team project [grant number JCTD-2018-06], and the “Double World-Classes” Development in Geography project. The study was carried out as part of the IAEA funded coordinated research project “Minimizing farming impacts on climate change by enhancing carbon and nitrogen capture and storage in Agro-Ecosystems (D1.50.16)” and was carried out in close collaboration with the German Science Foundation research unit DASIM (FOR 2337).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xiaoqian Dan, Mengqiu He, Xiaoxiang He, Chang Zhao, Shending Chen, Jinbo Zhang & Zucong Cai

  2. College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

    Lei Meng & Jinbo Zhang

  3. Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Jinbo Zhang & Zucong Cai

  4. Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for Soil Utilization & Sustainable Agriculture, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Zucong Cai

  5. Institute of Plant Ecology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Christoph Müller

  6. School of Biology and Environmental Science and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland

    Christoph Müller

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  1. Xiaoqian Dan
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Dan, X., Meng, L., He, M. et al. Regulation of nitrogen acquisition in vegetables by different impacts on autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification. Plant Soil 474, 581–594 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05362-z

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