scholarly journals Response of nitrogen fractions in the rhizosphere and bulk soil to organic mulching in an urban forest plantation

Author(s):  
Xiaodan Sun ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Yuqian Ye ◽  
Qingxu Ma ◽  
Qingwei Guan ◽  
...  

AbstractNitrogen is an essential component in forest ecosystem nutrient cycling. Nitrogen fractions, such as dissolved nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, and microbial biomass nitrogen, are sensitive indicators of soil nitrogen pools which affect soil fertility and nutrient cycling. However, the responses of nitrogen fractions in forest soils to organic mulching are less well understood. The rhizosphere is an important micro-region that must be considered to better understand element cycling between plants and the soil. A field investigation was carried out on the effect of mulching soil in a 15-year-old Ligustrum lucidum urban plantation. Changes in total nitrogen and nitrogen fractions in rhizosphere and bulk soil in the topsoil (upper 20 cm) and in the subsoil (20–40 cm) were evaluated following different levels of mulching, in addition to nitrogen contents in fine roots, leaves, and organic mulch. The relationships between nitrogen fractions and other measured variables were analysed. Organic mulching had no significant effect on most nitrogen fractions except for the rhizosphere microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and the thinnest (5 cm) mulching layer showed greater effects than other treatments. Rhizosphere MBN was more sensitive to mulching compared to bulk soil, and was more affected by soil environmental changes. Season and soil depth had more pronounced effects on nitrogen fractions than mulching. Total nitrogen and dissolved nitrogen were correlated to soil phosphorus, whereas other nitrogen fractions were strongly affected by soil physical properties (temperature, water content, bulk density). Mulching also decreased leaf nitrogen content, which was more related to soil nitrogen fractions (except for MBN) than nitrogen contents in either fine roots or organic mulch. Frequent applications of small quantities of organic mulch contribute to nitrogen transformation and utilization in urban forests.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaodan Sun ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Qingxu Ma ◽  
Jiahui Liao ◽  
Dong Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Soil organic carbon (SOC) is important for soil quality and fertility in forest ecosystems. Labile SOC fractions are sensitive to environmental changes, which reflect the impact of short-term internal and external management measures on the soil carbon pool. Organic mulching (OM) alters the soil environment and promotes plant growth. However, little is known about the responses of SOC fractions in rhizosphere or bulk soil to OM in urban forests and its correlation with carbon composition in plants. Methods A one-year field experiment with four treatments (OM at 0, 5, 10, and 20 cm thicknesses) was conducted in a 15-year-old Ligustrum lucidum plantation. Changes in the SOC fractions in the rhizosphere and bulk soil; the carbon content in the plant fine roots, leaves, and organic mulch; and several soil physicochemical properties were measured. The relationships between SOC fractions and the measured variables were analysed. Results The OM treatments had no significant effect on the SOC fractions, except for the dissolved organic carbon (DOC). OM promoted the movement of SOC to deeper soil because of the increased carbon content in fine roots of subsoil. There were significant correlations between DOC and microbial biomass carbon and SOC and easily oxidised organic carbon. The OM had a greater effect on organic carbon fractions in the bulk soil than in the rhizosphere. The thinnest (5 cm) mulching layers showed the most rapid carbon decomposition over time. The time after OM had the greatest effect on the SOC fractions, followed by soil layer. Conclusions The frequent addition of small amounts of organic mulch increased SOC accumulation in the present study. OM is a potential management model to enhance soil organic matter storage for maintaining urban forest productivity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Risch ◽  
S. Zimmermann ◽  
R. Ochoa-Hueso ◽  
M. Schütz ◽  
B. Frey ◽  
...  

Abstract Soil nitrogen mineralisation (Nmin), the conversion of organic into inorganic N, is important for productivity and nutrient cycling. The balance between mineralisation and immobilisation (net Nmin) varies with soil properties and climate. However, because most global-scale assessments of net Nmin are laboratory-based, its regulation under field-conditions and implications for real-world soil functioning remain uncertain. Here, we explore the drivers of realised (field) and potential (laboratory) soil net Nmin across 30 grasslands worldwide. We find that realised Nmin is largely explained by temperature of the wettest quarter, microbial biomass, clay content and bulk density. Potential Nmin only weakly correlates with realised Nmin, but contributes to explain realised net Nmin when combined with soil and climatic variables. We provide novel insights of global realised soil net Nmin and show that potential soil net Nmin data available in the literature could be parameterised with soil and climate data to better predict realised Nmin.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Bayranvand ◽  
Moslem Akbarinia ◽  
Gholamreza Salehi Jouzani ◽  
Javad Gharechahi ◽  
Petr Baldrian

The diverse chemical, biological, and microbial properties of litter and organic matter (OM) in forest soil along an altitudinal gradient are potentially important for nutrient cycling. In the present study, we sought to evaluate soil chemical, biological, microbial, and enzymatic characteristics at four altitude levels (0, 500, 1,000, and 1,500 m) in northern Iran to characterize nutrient cycling in forest soils. The results showed that carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) turnover changed with altitude along with microbial properties and enzyme activity. At the lowest altitude with mixed forest and no beech trees, the higher content of N in litter and soil, higher pH and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and the greater activities of aminopeptidases affected soil N cycling. At elevations above 1,000 m, where beech is the dominant tree species, the higher activities of cellobiohydrolase, arylsulfatase, β-xylosidase, β-galactosidase, endoglucanase, endoxylanase, and manganese peroxidase (MnP) coincided with higher basal respiration (BR), substrate-induced respiration (SIR), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and thus favored conditions for microbial entropy and C turnover. The low N content and high C/N ratio at 500-m altitude were associated with the lowest microbial and enzyme activities. Our results support the view that the plain forest with mixed trees (without beech) had higher litter quality and soil fertility, while forest dominated by beech trees had the potential to store higher C and can potentially better mitigate global warming.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-311
Author(s):  
Debasis Purohit ◽  
Mitali Mandal ◽  
Avisek Dash ◽  
Kumbha Karna Rout ◽  
Narayan Panda ◽  
...  

An effective approach for improving nutrient use efficiency and crop productivity simultaneously through exploitation of biological potential for efficient acquisition and utilization of nutrients by crops is very much needed in this current era. Thus, an attempt is made here to investigate the impact of long term fertilization in the soil ecology in rice-rice cropping system in post kharif - 2015 in flooded tropical rice (Oryza sativa L.) in an acidic sandy soil. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with quadruplicated treatments. Soil samples at different growth stages of rice were collected from long term fertilizer experiment.The studied long-term manured treatments included 100 % N, 100% NP, 100 % NPK, 150 % NPK and 100 % NPK+FYM (5 t ha-1) and an unmanured control. Soil fertility status like SOC content and other available nutrient content has decreased continuously towards the crop growth period. Comparing the results of different treatments, it was found that the application of 100% NPK + FYM exhibited highest nutrient content in soils. With regards to microbial properties it was also observed that the amount of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen ( MBN) showed highest accumulation in 100 % NPK + FYM at maximum tillering stage of the rice. The results further reveal that dehydrogenase activity was maximum at panicle initiation stage and thereafter it decreases. Soil organic carbon content, MBC, MBN and dehydrogenase activity were significantly correlated with each other. Significant correlations were observed between rice yield and MBC at maturity stage( R2 = 0.94**) and panicle initiation stage( R2 = 0.92**) and available nitrogen content at maturity stage( R2 = 0.91**).


2001 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 577-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Z. Lupwayi ◽  
M. A. Monreal ◽  
G. W. Clayton ◽  
C. A. Grant ◽  
A. M. Johnston ◽  
...  

There is little information on the effects of S management strategies on soil microorganisms under zero tillage systems o n the North American Prairies. Experiments were conducted to examine the effects of tillage and source and placement of S on soil microbial biomass (substrate induced respiration) and functional diversity (substrate utilization patterns) in a canola-wheat rotation under conventional and zero tillage systems at three sites in Gray Luvisolic and Black Chernozemic soils. Conventional tillage significantly reduced microbial biomass and diversity on an acidic and C-poor Luvisolic soil, but it had mostly no significant effects on the near-neutral, C-rich Luvisolic and Chernozemic soils, which underlines the importance of soil C in maintaining a healthy soil. Sulphur had no significant effects on soil microbial biomass, and its effects on microbial diversity were more frequent on the near-neutral Luvisol, which was more S-deficient, than on the acidic Luvisol or the Chernozem. Significant S effects on microbial diversity were observed both in the bulk soil (negative effects, compared with the control) and rhizosphere (positive effects) of the acidic Luvisol, but all significant effects (positive) were observed in root rhizospheres in the other soils. Sulphur by tillage interactions on acidic Luvisolic soil indicated that the negative effects of S in bulk soil occurred mostly under zero tillage, presumably because the fertilizer is concentrated in a smaller volume of soil than under conventional tillage. Sulphate S effects, either negative or positive, on microbial diversity were usually greater than elemental S effects. Therefore, S application can have direct, deleterious effects on soil microorganisms or indirect, beneficial effects through crop growth, the latter presumably due to increased root exudation in the rhizosphere of healthy crops. Key Words: Biolog, conservation tillage, microbial biodiversity, rhizosphere, soil biological quality, S fertilizer type and placement


2022 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 118-131
Author(s):  
Pin Li ◽  
Rongbin Yin ◽  
Huimin Zhou ◽  
Sheng Xu ◽  
Zhaozhong Feng

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marili Sell ◽  
Ivika Ostonen ◽  
Gristin Rohula-Okunev ◽  
Linda Rusalepp ◽  
Azadeh Rezapour ◽  
...  

Abstract Global climate change scenarios predict an increase in air temperature, precipitation, and air humidity for northern latitudes. Elevated air humidity may significantly reduce the water flux through forest canopies and affect interactions between water and nutrient uptake. However, we have limited understanding of how altered transpiration would affect root respiration and carbon (C) exudation as fine root morphology acclimates to different water flux. We investigated the effects of elevated air relative humidity (eRH) and different inorganic nitrogen sources (NO3− and NH4+) on above and belowground traits in hybrid aspen (Populus × wettsteinii Hämet-Ahti), silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.), and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) grown under controlled climate chamber conditions. The eRH significantly decreased the transpiration flux in all species, decreased root mass-specific exudation in pine, and increased root respiration in aspen. eRH also affected fine root morphology, with specific root area increasing for birch but decreasing in pine. The species comparison revealed that pine had the highest C exudation, while birch had the highest root respiration rate. Both humidity and nitrogen treatments affected the share of absorptive and pioneer roots within fine roots; however, the response was species-specific. The proportion of absorptive roots was highest in birch and aspen, the share of pioneer roots was greatest in aspen, and the share of transport roots was greatest in pine. Fine roots with lower root tissue density were associated with pioneer root tips and had a higher C exudation rate. Our findings underline the importance of considering species-specific differences in relation to air humidity and soil nitrogen availability that interactively affect the C input–output balance. We highlight the role of changes in the fine root functional distribution as an important acclimation mechanism of trees in response to environmental change.


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