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Low pH inhibits soil nosZ without affecting N2O uptake

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

Purpose

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas. Soils are the main source and an important sink of N2O. Gross rates of soil N2O emission and uptake determine the net flux and concentration of N2O in the atmosphere. Denitrification is generally considered a key pathway of N2O consumption, during which N2O is reduced to N2 by nitrous oxide reductase (N2OR) encoded by nosZ genes. Although the soil pH is an important factor in denitrification, its effect on N2O uptake across the soil‒atmosphere interface is still unclear.

Materials and methods

This study subjected acid red soil to eight different pH treatments (including 3.80, 4.47, 4.98, 6.08, 6.69, 6.99, 7.15, and 7.32) via lime application. An incubation experiment was conducted using a 15N2O dilution technique to quantify soil gross N2O emission, N2O uptake, and net N2O flux.

Results and discussion

There are two contrasting gross N2O emission patterns in the tested pH range. When pH ≤ 4.98, the cumulative gross N2O emission decreased as the soil pH increased. In contrast, when pH > 4.98, the increasing pH promoted gross N2O emission. The significant positive correlation between gross N2O emission and net N2O flux indicated that the net flux of N2O is driven by gross emission rather than uptake. There was no observable effect on the cumulative N2O uptake in the 3.80–6.99 pH range, but it decreased at 7.15 and 7.32 pH. However, the copies of nosZ genes (both nosZ clades I and II) were inhibited at low pH and considerably increased with increasing soil pH. In addition, the cumulative N2O uptake/gross emission ratio was negatively correlated with soil pH.

Conclusions

Our findings show that low pH inhibits soil nosZ without affecting N2O uptake. However, this study provides direct evidence for N2O absorption across the atmospheric soil interface.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41771330, 41907077), Fujian Province (2019J01104, 2019J01105), and the Foundation of Fujian Academic of Agricultural Sciences (GJYS2019004, DEC2020-05, AGP2018-8, CXPT202106, CXTD2021012-2, XTCXGC2021009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Fujian Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, Fuzhou, 350013, People’s Republic of China

    Xiangzhou Zheng, Baoling Guo, Hongshan Liu, Yiqun Wu, Juhua Yu, Hong Ding & Yushu Zhang

  2. College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, 130061, People’s Republic of China

    Hongshan Liu

  3. FuJian Inspection and Testing Centre for Agricultural Product Quality and Safety, Fuzhou, 350003, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuhong Jiang

  4. Fujian Agricultural Ecological Environment and Energy Technology Center, Fuzhou, 350003, People’s Republic of China

    Quanda Luo

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  1. Xiangzhou Zheng
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  2. Baoling Guo
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Correspondence to Yushu Zhang.

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Zheng, X., Guo, B., Liu, H. et al. Low pH inhibits soil nosZ without affecting N2O uptake. J Soils Sediments 23, 422–430 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03324-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03324-7

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