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Nitrapyrin affects the abundance of ammonia oxidizers rather than community structure in a yellow clay paddy soil

  • Soils, Sec 5 • Soil and Landscape Ecology • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Yellow clay paddy soil (Oxisols) is a low-yield soil with low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in southern China. The nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin (2-chloro-6- (tricholoromethyl)-pyridine, CP) has been applied to improve NUE and reduce environmental pollution in paddy soil. However, the effects of nitrapyrin combined with nitrogen fertilizers on ammonia oxidizers in yellow clay paddy soil have not been examined.

Materials and methods

A randomized complete block design was set with three treatments: (1) without nitrogen fertilizer (CK), (2) common prilled urea (PU), and (3) prilled urea with nitrapyrin (NPU). Soil samples were collected from three treatments where CK, PU, and NPU had been repeatedly applied over 5 years. Soil samples were analyzed by quantitative PCR and 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing of the amoA gene to investigate the influence of nitrapyrin combined with nitrogen on the abundance and community structure of ammonia oxidizers in yellow clay paddy soil.

Results and discussion

The potential nitrification rate (PNR) of the soil was significantly correlated with the abundances of both ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Application of urea significantly stimulated AOA and AOB growth, whereas nitrapyrin exhibited inhibitory effects on AOA. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the most dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of AOA and AOB were affiliated with the Nitrosotalea cluster and Nitrosospira cluster 12, respectively. AOA and AOB community structures were not altered by urea and nitrapyrin application.

Conclusions

Nitrogen fertilization stimulated nitrification and increased the population sizes of AOA and AOB. Nitrapyrin affected the abundance, but not community structure of ammonia oxidizers in yellow clay soil. Our results suggested that nitrapyrin improving NUE and inhibiting PNR was attributable to the inhibition of AOA growth.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Editage for English language editing.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0200102), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2015CB150502), and the Key Research And Development Program of Zhejiang Province (2015C03011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Yan Gu, Yinan Xie, Qingxu Ma & Lianghuan Wu

  2. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Yan Gu, Yinan Xie, Qingxu Ma & Lianghuan Wu

  3. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225127, China

    Wenhai Mi

  4. State Key Laboratory of Nutrition Resources Integrated Utilization, Kingenta Ecological Engineering Group Co. Ltd., Linyi, 276000, Shangdong, China

    Lianghuan Wu & Zhaoping Hu

  5. Zhejiang Aofutuo Chemical Co. Ltd., Shangyu, 312300, Zhejiang, China

    Feng Dai

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  1. Yan Gu
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  2. Wenhai Mi
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  3. Yinan Xie
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Correspondence to Lianghuan Wu.

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Gu, Y., Mi, W., Xie, Y. et al. Nitrapyrin affects the abundance of ammonia oxidizers rather than community structure in a yellow clay paddy soil. J Soils Sediments 19, 872–882 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2075-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2075-3

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