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Identification of several wheat landraces with biological nitrification inhibition capacity

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Abstract

Background and aims

Nitrification is the first step in several pathways that lead to losses of nitrogen from agricultural systems. Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) refers to the ability of some plant species to release chemicals from their roots that inhibit microbial ammonia oxidation thereby decreasing nitrification rates. BNI has been found in the wheat relative Leymus racemosus but not in Triticum aestivum. The aim of this work was to assess a number of landraces of Triticum aestivum for BNI ability.

Methods

Samples of root exudates and root tissue extracts, collected from hydroponically grown plants, were tested for their impact on nitrification rates when inoculated with pure cultures of two ammonia oxidising bacteria, Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrosospira multiformis. Pot experiments were then conducted to confirm the results.

Results

The vast majority of the landraces tested caused some level of inhibition. However, of the 96 wheat landraces tested, 26 produced root exudates which caused a statistically significant reduction in nitrification rates of the two ammonia oxidising bacteria. Root exudates from four of the BNI positive landraces were shown to significantly inhibit nitrification rates in a sandy loam soil.

Conclusions

This is the first evidence of significant levels of BNI in Triticum aestivum. The discovery of landraces with BNI ability raises the potential for breeding this trait into modern, elite wheat cultivars.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Bayer CropScience. The authors would like to thank Mrs Karen Treble for the technical assistance that she provided to support these experiments and the staff from the Australian Winter Cereals Collection for making available the seeds of the wheat landraces. We also thank the staff from The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia for allowing access to the Vasse Research Station for soil sampling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Agriculture, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA, 6913, Australia

    Cathryn A. O’Sullivan, Ian R. P. Fillery & Margaret M. Roper

  2. CSIRO Agriculture, GPO box 1600, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Richard A. Richards

Authors
  1. Cathryn A. O’Sullivan
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  2. Ian R. P. Fillery
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  3. Margaret M. Roper
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  4. Richard A. Richards
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Correspondence to Cathryn A. O’Sullivan.

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Responsible Editor: Elizabeth M Baggs.

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O’Sullivan, C.A., Fillery, I.R.P., Roper, M.M. et al. Identification of several wheat landraces with biological nitrification inhibition capacity. Plant Soil 404, 61–74 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2822-4

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