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The contrasting effects of biochar and straw on N2O emissions in the maize season in intensively farmed soil

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Abstract

This study evaluated the combined effects of biochar and straw on N2O flux and the community compositions of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in the maize season in an intensively farmed area in northern China. The experiment consisted of four treatments: (1) CK (only chemical fertilizer application); (2) C (biochar application); (3) SR (straw application to the field); and (4) C+SR (the application of both biochar and straw). The results indicated that during the maize growing season, N2O flux decreased by 30.3% in the C treatment and increased by 13.2% and 37.0% in the SR and C+SR treatments compared with CK, respectively. NO3−-N, NH4+-N, and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were the main soil factors affecting N2O flux, and they were positively correlated with NO3−-N and negatively correlated with MBC in the C treatment and positively correlated with NH4+-N in the SR and C+SR treatments. Both biochar addition and straw return shifted the community compositions of nitrifiers and denitrifiers. N2O production was mainly reduced by promoting the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) gene abundance and inhibiting the nirK gene abundance in the C treatment but promoted by inhibiting the AOB and nosZ gene abundances in the SR and C+SR treatments. Nitrosospira (AOB) and Rhizobium (nirK) were the main contributors among the treatments. NO3−-N, NH4+-N, and MBC were the main soil factors affecting the denitrifier communities. The predominant species associated with the nirK, nirS, and nosZ genes were positively correlated with NO3−-N and MBC and negatively correlated with NH4+-N. These results provide valuable information on the mechanism of N2O production and reduction in biochar- and straw-amended soil under field conditions.

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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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Funding

The research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41773090).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Xingren Liu, Zhanming Tang & Qingwen Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Weidong Kong

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  1. Xingren Liu
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  2. Zhanming Tang
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  3. Qingwen Zhang
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  4. Weidong Kong
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LXR planned and designed research; TZM and ZQW conducted experiments; TZM and KWD conducted chemical analysis; LXR and TZM conducted statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xingren Liu or Weidong Kong.

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Liu, X., Tang, Z., Zhang, Q. et al. The contrasting effects of biochar and straw on N2O emissions in the maize season in intensively farmed soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 29806–29819 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12722-2

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