Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Differential effects of nitrogen addition on the organic carbon fractions of rhizosphere and bulk soil based on a pot experiment

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The biogeochemical cycling of carbon (C) is essential for maintaining plant productivity and thus plays a vital role in soil carbon sequestration. However, limited information is available for addressing the effects of N input on SOC sequestration and discriminating between the differential effects on bulk soil and the rhizosphere. The aims of this study are to explore the responses of SOC fractions to different N addition levels and their potential environmental drivers.

Materials and methods

A 20-month pot experiment was conducted to investigate the responses of soil organic C (SOC) fractions to varying levels of N addition (0, 25, 50, 75, 100, and 150 kg N·ha−1·year−1) in rhizosphere and bulk soil by using a nylon mesh. The key roles of bacterial community composition and C-acquisition enzyme activities were also deciphered as the driver factors of SOC fractions.

Results and discussion

Carbon levels (i.e., particulate organic C (POC), light and heavy C fractions, dissolved organic C, and easily oxidizable organic C) in the rhizosphere increased with increasing N addition. Greater variation was observed in the response of POC to N addition, when compared to other SOC fractions, indicating relatively higher sensitivity of POC to elevated soil N levels. In the rhizosphere, N addition increased bacterial diversity and the activities of C-acquisition enzymes but only at lower levels (≤ 50 kg N·ha−1·year−1). The effect of N addition on rhizospheric SOC was strongly associated with increased root biomass and inorganic N content. Meanwhile, in bulk soil, changes in SOC fractions were largely driven by soil NO3−-N level.

Conclusions

The results of the present study indicate that N addition increases rhizospheric SOC content by regulating soil N levels and bacterial activities and highlight the differential responses of SOC fractions from rhizosphere and bulk soil to N addition, which will be helpful to understand the role of SOC sequestration in response to N deposition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ackerman D, Millet DB, Chen X (2019) Global Estimates of Inorganic Nitrogen Deposition Across Four Decades. Global Biogeochem Cy 33:100–107

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Adamczyk B, Sietiö O-M, Straková P, Prommer J, Wild B, Hagner M, Pihlatie M, Fritze H, Richter A, Heinonsalo J (2019) Plant roots increase both decomposition and stable organic matter formation in boreal forest soil. Nat Commun 10:3982

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolyen E, Rideout JR, Dillon MR et al (2019) Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2. Nat Biotechnol 37:852–857

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cambardella CA, Elliott ET (1992) Particulate Soil Organic-Matter Changes across a Grassland Cultivation Sequence. Soil Sci Soc Am J 56:777–783

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen L, Liu L, Mao C, Qin S, Wang J, Liu F, Blagodatsky S, Yang G, Zhang Q, Zhang D, Yu J, Yang Y (2018) Nitrogen availability regulates topsoil carbon dynamics after permafrost thaw by altering microbial metabolic efficiency. Nat Commun 9:3951

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y, Liu X, Hou Y, Zhou S, Zhu B (2019) Particulate organic carbon is more vulnerable to nitrogen addition than mineral-associated organic carbon in soil of an alpine meadow. Plant Soil 458:93–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Cusack DF, Silver WL, Torn MS, Burton SD, Firestone MK (2011) Changes in microbial community characteristics and soil organic matter with nitrogen additions in two tropical forests. Ecology 92:621–632

    Google Scholar 

  • Deng J, Yin Y, Zhu W, Zhou Y (2018a) Variations in Soil Bacterial Community Diversity and Structures Among Different Revegetation Types in the Baishilazi Nature Reserve. Front Microbiol 9

  • Deng L, Huang C, Kim D-G, Shangguan Z, Wang K, Song X, Peng C (2020) Soil GHG fluxes are altered by N deposition: New data indicate lower N stimulation of the N2O flux and greater stimulation of the calculated C pools. Global Change Biol 26:2613–2629

    Google Scholar 

  • Deng L, Peng C, Zhu G, Chen L, Liu Y, Shangguan Z (2018b) Positive responses of belowground C dynamics to nitrogen enrichment in China. Sci Total Environ 616–617:1035–1044

    Google Scholar 

  • Deng SP, Tabatabai MA (1994) Cellulase activity of soils. Soil Biol Biochem 26:1347–1354

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edgar RC (2010) Search and clustering orders of magnitude faster than BLAST. Bioinformatics 26:2460–2461

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Gao D, Zhao C, Wang C, Qu Y, Zhang J, Bai E (2021) Improved model simulation of soil carbon cycling by representing the microbially derived organic carbon pool. ISME J 15:2248–2263

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman ZB, Romanowicz KJ, Upchurch RA, Zak DR (2015) Differential responses of total and active soil microbial communities to long-term experimental N deposition. Soil Biol Biochem 90:275–282

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner CM, Gerhard WA, Redfern LK, Gunsch CK (2022) Evaluation of developing maize microbiomes and associations among nitrogen cyclers and key fungal taxa. Microbiol 16:3

    Google Scholar 

  • Geng Y, Dighton J, Gray D (2012) The effects of thinning and soil disturbance on enzyme activities under pitch pine soil in New Jersey Pinelands. Appl Soil Ecol 62:1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Grömping U (2006) Relative Importance for Linear Regression in R: The Package relaimpo. J StatSoftw 17:1–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo Y, Wang X, Li X, Wang J, Xu M, Li D (2016) Dynamics of soil organic and inorganic carbon in the cropland of upper Yellow River Delta. China Sci Rep 6:36105

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He W, Zhang M, Jin G, Sui X, Zhang T, Song F (2021) Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on Nitrogen-Mineralizing Enzyme Activity and Soil Microbial Community Structure in a Korean Pine Plantation. Microb Ecol 81:410–424

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hinsinger P, Gobran GR, Gregory PJ, Wenzel WW (2005) Rhizosphere geometry and heterogeneity arising from root-mediated physical and chemical processes. New Phytol 168:293–303

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang X, Jia Z, Guo J, Li T, Sun D, Meng H, Yu G, He X, Ran W, Zhang S, Hong J, Shen Q (2019) Ten-year long-term organic fertilization enhances carbon sequestration and calcium-mediated stabilization of aggregate-associated organic carbon in a reclaimed Cambisol. Geoderma 355:113880

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jílková V, Jandová K, Kukla J (2021) Responses of microbial activity to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus additions in forest mineral soils differing in organic carbon content. Biol Fertil Soils 57:513–521

    Google Scholar 

  • Jing H, Li J, Yan B, Wei F, Wang G, Liu GB (2021) The effects of nitrogen addition on soil organic carbon decomposition and microbial C-degradation functional genes abundance in a Pinus tabulaeformis forest. For Ecol Manag 489:119098

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalbitz K, Schwesig D, Rethemeyer J, Matzner E (2005) Stabilization of dissolved organic matter by sorption to the mineral soil. Soil Biol Biochem 37:1319–1331

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Li W, Xu X (2021) Root exudates induce rhizosphere effect benefits for plant N use efficiency and fitness of relatives for Glycine max. Plant Soil 469:243–258

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Zhang X, Luo J, Lindsey S, Zhou F, Xie H, Li Y, Zhu P, Wang L, Shi Y, He H, Zhang X (2020) Differential accumulation of microbial necromass and plant lignin in synthetic versus organic fertilizer-amended soil. Soil Biol Biochem 149:107967

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Dong J, Chu W, Chen Y, Duan Z (2018) The relationship between root exudation properties and root morphological traits of cucumber grown under different nitrogen supplies and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Plant Soil 425:415–432

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lian T, Yu Z, Liu J, Li Y, Wang G, Liu X, Herbert S, Wu J, Jin J (2018) Rhizobacterial community structure in response to nitrogen addition varied between two Mollisols differing in soil organic carbon. Sci Rep 8:12280

    Google Scholar 

  • Ling N, Wang T, Kuzyakov Y (2022) Rhizosphere bacteriome structure and functions. Nat Commun 13:836

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Louca S, Parfrey Laura W, Doebeli M (2016) Decoupling function and taxonomy in the global ocean microbiome. Science 353:1272–1277

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo Y, Zhu Z, Liu S, Peng P, Xu J, Brookes P, Ge T, Wu J (2019) Nitrogen fertilization increases rice rhizodeposition and its stabilization in soil aggregates and the humus fraction. Plant Soil 445:125–135

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moran KK, Six J, Horwath WR, van Kessel C (2005) Role of Mineral-Nitrogen in Residue Decomposition and Stable Soil Organic Matter Formation. Soil Sci Soc Am J 69:1730–1736

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morrissey EM, Mau RL, Schwartz E, McHugh TA, Dijkstra P, Koch BJ, Marks JC, Hungate BA (2017) Bacterial carbon use plasticity, phylogenetic diversity and the priming of soil organic matter. ISME J 11:1890–1899

    Google Scholar 

  • Neff JC, Townsend AR, Gleixner G, Lehman SJ, Turnbull J, Bowman WD (2002) Variable effects of nitrogen additions on the stability and turnover of soil carbon. Nature 419:915–917

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niu D, Yuan X, Cease A, Wen H, Zhang C, Fu H, Elser J (2018) The impact of nitrogen enrichment on grassland ecosystem stability depends on nitrogen addition level. Sci Total Environ 618:1529–1538

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niu G, Hasi M, Wang R, Wang Y, Geng Q, Hu S, Xu X, Yang J, Wang C, Han X, Huang J (2021) Soil microbial community responses to long-term nitrogen addition at different soil depths in a typical steppe. Appl Soil Ecol 167:104054

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaston S, Laura T, Giorgio (2015) plspm: Tools for Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM). R package version 0.4.9. https://github.com/gastonstat/plspm

  • Oksanen J, Blanchet GF, Friendly M, Kindt R, Legendre P, McGlinn D, Minchin PR, O'Hara RB, Simpson GL, Solymos P, Henry M, Stevens H, Szoecs E, Wagner H (2020) vegan: Community Ecology Package. R package version 2.5–7

  • Raaijmakers JM, Paulitz TC, Steinberg C, Alabouvette C, Moënne-Loccoz Y (2009) The rhizosphere: a playground and battlefield for soilborne pathogens and beneficial microorganisms. Plant Soil 321:341–361

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salvachúa D, Karp EM, Nimlos CT, Vardon DR, Beckham GT (2015) Towards lignin consolidated bioprocessing: simultaneous lignin depolymerization and product generation by bacteria. Green Chem 17:4951–4967

    Google Scholar 

  • Schectman O (2001) The coefficient of variation as a measure of sincerity of effort of grip strength, Part II: sensitivity and specificity. J Hand Ther 14(3):188–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Tian L, Feng Y, Gao Z, Li H, Wang B, Huang Y, Gao X, Feng B (2022) Co-occurrence pattern and community assembly of broomcorn millet rhizosphere microbiomes in a typical agricultural ecosystem. Appl Soil Ecol 176:104478

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan X, Machmuller MB, Cotrufo MF, Shen W (2020) Shifts in fungal biomass and activities of hydrolase and oxidative enzymes explain different responses of litter decomposition to nitrogen addition. Biol Fertil Soils 56:423–438

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tang H, Xiao X, Li C, Pan X, Cheng K, Li W, Wang K (2020) Microbial carbon source utilization in rice rhizosphere and nonrhizosphere soils with short-term manure N input rate in paddy field. Sci Rep 10(1):9

    Google Scholar 

  • Vieira FCB, Bayer C, Zanatta JA, Dieckow J, Mielniczuk J, He ZL (2007) Carbon management index based on physical fractionation of soil organic matter in an Acrisol under long-term no-till cropping systems. Soil Till Res 96:195–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Liao L, Wang G, Liu H, Wu Y, Liu G, Zhang C (2022a) N-induced root exudates mediate the rhizosphere fungal assembly and affect species coexistence. Sci Total Environ 804:150148

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Liao L, Ye Z, Liu H, Zhang C, Zhang L, Liu G, Wang G (2022b) Different bacterial co-occurrence patterns and community assembly between rhizosphere and bulk soils under N addition in the plant–soil system. Plant Soil 471:697–713

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Tavakoli J, Tang Y (2019) Bacterial cellulose production, properties and applications with different culture methods – A review. Carbohydr Polym 219:63–76

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xu H, Zhu B, Wei X, Yu M, Cheng X (2021) Root functional traits mediate rhizosphere soil carbon stability in a subtropical forest. Soil Biol Biochem 162:108431

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xun W, Shao J, Shen Q, Zhang R (2021) Rhizosphere microbiome: Functional compensatory assembly for plant fitness. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 19:5487–5493

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang R, Fang J, Cao Q, Zhao D, Dong J, Wang R, Liu J (2021) The content, composition, and influencing factors of organic carbon in the sediments of two types of constructed wetlands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28:49206–49219

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang X, Wang D, Lan Y, Meng J, Jiang L, Sun Q, Cao D, Sun Y, Chen W (2018) Labile organic carbon fractions and carbon pool management index in a 3-year field study with biochar amendment. J Soils Sediments 18:1569–1578

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ye C, Chen D, Hall SJ, Pan S, Yan X, Bai T, Guo H, Zhang Y, Bai Y, Hu S (2018) Reconciling multiple impacts of nitrogen enrichment on soil carbon: plant, microbial and geochemical controls. Ecol Lett 21:1162–1173

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu M, Wang Y, Baldock J, Jiang J, Mo J, Zhou G, Yan J (2020) Divergent responses of soil organic carbon accumulation to 14 years of nitrogen addition in two typical subtropical forests. Sci Total Environ 707:136104

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan X, Qin W, Xu H, Zhang Z, Zhou H, Zhu B (2020) Sensitivity of soil carbon dynamics to nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment in an alpine meadow. Soil Biol Biochem 150:107984

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zang H, Blagodatskaya E, Wang J, Xu X, Kuzyakov Y (2017) Nitrogen fertilization increases rhizodeposit incorporation into microbial biomass and reduces soil organic matter losses. Biol Fertil Soils 53:419–429

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang C, Liu G, Xue S, Wang G (2016a) Soil bacterial community dynamics reflect changes in plant community and soil properties during the secondary succession of abandoned farmland in the Loess Plateau. Soil Biol Biochem 97:40–49

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang C, Song Z, Zhuang D, Wang J, Xie S, Liu G (2019) Urea fertilization decreases soil bacterial diversity, but improves microbial biomass, respiration, and N-cycling potential in a semiarid grassland. Biol Fertil Soils 55:229–242

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang T, Chen HYH, Ruan H (2018) Global negative effects of nitrogen deposition on soil microbes. ISME J 12:1817–1825

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Tang Y, Shi Y, He N, Wen X, Yu Q, Zheng C, Sun X, Qiu W (2016b) Responses of soil hydrolytic enzymes, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea to nitrogen applications in a temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia. Sci Rep 6:32791

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhong Y, Yan W, Shangguan Z (2015) Soil carbon and nitrogen fractions in the soil profile and their response to long-term nitrogen fertilization in a wheat field. CATENA 135:38–46

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou J, Zang H, Loeppmann S, Gube M, Kuzyakov Y, Pausch J (2020) Arbuscular mycorrhiza enhances rhizodeposition and reduces the rhizosphere priming effect on the decomposition of soil organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 140:107641

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu X, Zhang Z, Liu D, Kou Y, Zheng Q, Liu M, Xiao J, Liu Q, Yin H, Chapman S (2020) Differential impacts of nitrogen addition on rhizosphere and bulk-soil carbon sequestration in an alpine shrubland. J Ecol 108:2309–2320

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Z, Zhou J, Shahbaz M, Tang H, Liu S, Zhang W, Yuan H, Zhou P, Alharbi H, Wu J, Kuzyakov Y, Ge T (2021) Microorganisms maintain C: N stoichiometric balance by regulating the priming effect in long-term fertilized soils. Appl Soil Ecol 167:104033

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (42130717, 42177449), the West Light Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XAB2020YN05), and the “Light of the West” Cross Team Key Laboratory Cooperative Research Project of Chinese Academy of Science.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming On the Loess Plateau, The Research Center of Soil and Water Conservation and Ecological Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Lirong Liao, Lu Zhang, Guobin Liu & Chao Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming On the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Lirong Liao, Lu Zhang, Guobin Liu & Chao Zhang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lirong Liao & Lu Zhang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming On the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Jie Wang, Shilong Lei, Zhencheng Ye, Guobin Liu & Chao Zhang

Authors
  1. Lirong Liao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jie Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shilong Lei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lu Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Zhencheng Ye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Guobin Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Chao Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guobin Liu or Chao Zhang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Weixin Ding

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 440 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liao, L., Wang, J., Lei, S. et al. Differential effects of nitrogen addition on the organic carbon fractions of rhizosphere and bulk soil based on a pot experiment. J Soils Sediments 23, 103–117 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03311-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03311-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation