Abstract
Nitrite oxidation as the second step of nitrification can become the determining step in disturbed soil systems. As a beneficial fertilization practice to maintain high crop yield and soil fertility, partial substitution of chemical fertilizer (CF) by organic fertilizer (OF) may exert a notable disturbance to soil systems. However, how nitrite oxidation responds to different proportions of CF to OF is still unclear. We sampled soils from a 4-year field experiment subject to a gradient of increasing proportions of OF to CF application. Activity, size, and structure of Nitrospira-like and Nitrobacter-like nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) community were measured. The results revealed that with increasing proportion of OF to CF application, potential nitrite oxidation activity (PNO) showed a marked decreasing trend. PNO was significantly correlated with the abundance of Nitrobacter-like but not Nitrospira-like NOB. The abundance of Nitrobacter-like was significantly influenced by soil organic matter, organic nitrogen (N), and available N. In addition, PNO was also affected by the structure of Nitrobacter-like NOB. The relative abundance of Nitrobacter hamburgensis, alkalicus, winogradskyi, and vulgaris responded differently to the proportions of OF to CF application. Organic N, organic matter, and available N were the main factor shaping their community structure. Overall, Nitrobacter-like NOB is more sensitive and plays a more important role than Nitrospira-like NOB in responding to different proportions of OF to CF application.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
We truly appreciate the valuable comments from Zhaorong Dong and Zhao Che. Also, we thank Yuhui Meng, Haosu Zhang, and Manyu Zhang for their assistance in soil sampling.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant numbers 2017YFD0301307-05, 2016YFD0300908-02, 2016YFD0300205-03).
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Fei Liang carried out the experiments and wrote the manuscript. Yongkang Wen analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. Xiao Dong carried out the data collation. Yiyao Wang, Guangyuan Pan, and Fangying Jiang provided software support and a visualization of the data. Huaying Luo and Wenjun Jin measured the soil properties. Jun Wang did project administration. He Song provided financial support and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Liang, F., Wen, Y., Dong, X. et al. Response of activity and community composition of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria to partial substitution of chemical fertilizer by organic fertilizer. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 29332–29343 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12038-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12038-7