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Enhancing soil nitrogen supply and maintaining rice yield through partial replacement of chemical nitrogen with food waste-derived organic fertilizer

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Abstract

Aims

Partially substituting organic fertilizer for chemical fertilizer is becoming more commonly recognized as a feasible technique for achieving sustainable agriculture. Nonetheless, the effects of partial replacement of artificial nitrogen (N) with organic fertilizer derived from food waste on rice production, N use efficiency (NUE), soil N pools, and microbial activity are unknown.

Methods

Over the 2020 and 2021 rice growing seasons, the following four treatments were investigated: CK, no fertilizer; CF, chemical fertilizer; C20, food waste organic fertilizer replacing 20% chemical N; and C50, food waste organic fertilizer replacing 50% chemical N. Under various treatments, we compared rice production, NUE, soil N pools, enzyme activities, and microbial abundance.

Results

The results demonstrated that substituting food waste organic fertilizer for chemical N ensured rice yield and improved NUE compared to chemical fertilizer alone. Food waste organic fertilizer substitution exhibited greater potential for enhancing soil organic matter (SOM), total N (TN), dissolved organic N (DON), microbial biomass N (MBN), ammonium N (NH4+-N), and nitrate N (NO3−-N) contents compared to the use of chemical fertilizer alone. Fertilization significantly increased the activities of N-acquiring enzymes and led to increased abundances of bacteria and fungi compared to no fertilizer application. Food waste organic fertilizer substitution resulted in higher levels of protease and leucine aminopeptidase compared to chemical fertilizer, while activities of urease and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase, as well as bacterial and fungal abundances, did not show significant differences between food waste organic fertilizer substitution and chemical fertilizer. Moreover, our findings indicate that organic substitution maintains rice production primarily by regulating soil N sources.

Conclusions

Our findings imply that substituting food waste organic fertilizer for artificial N enhances soil N availability, soil bacteria and fungus abundances, and N-acquiring enzyme activities while also maintaining rice output.

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Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Agriculture Research System of Shanghai, China (Grant No. 202203).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jun Wang, Feng Wang, Zhimin Sha & Linkui Cao

  2. Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Eco-Environmental Change and Management Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jun Wang, Feng Wang, Zhimin Sha & Linkui Cao

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  1. Jun Wang
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  2. Feng Wang
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Correspondence to Zhimin Sha or Linkui Cao.

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Wang, J., Wang, F., Sha, Z. et al. Enhancing soil nitrogen supply and maintaining rice yield through partial replacement of chemical nitrogen with food waste-derived organic fertilizer. Plant Soil 492, 625–639 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06207-z

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