scholarly journals Effects of Biochar Application on Soil Nitrogen Conversion and Microbial Community Composition

Author(s):  
Pingnan Zhao ◽  
Shen Wang ◽  
Dong Liu ◽  
Hongxu Li ◽  
Song Han ◽  
...  

Abstract In northeastern China, successive years of cultivation have led to a decline in soil quality, a process that is exacerbated by the over-application of chemical fertilizers to ensure staple food production. The large amount of straw produced by cultivation is difficult to effectively use in recent years. There has been an increasing amount of research on the transforming straw into biomass char, but it has often focused on the effects of biomass char addition on soil physicochemical properties, without further exploring the mechanisms of this process and its effects on soil microorganisms. Microorganisms are an important part of the soil system and the process of how biomass char addition affects microorganisms through its effect on soil physicochemical properties should not be overlooked. In this study, the effect of biochar application at different preparation temperatures (300°C, 400°C and 500°C) and addition contents (0.1% and 1%) on ammonia, nitrate and total nitrogen in soil leachates were investigated. The effect of microbial sequencing on the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen was also investigated to reveal the mechanisms contributing to the changes in nitrogen forms. The results showed that biochar had a better adsorption ability on ammonia nitrogen, and biochar promoted the conversion of ammonia nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen by nitrifying bacteria. The addition of 1% biochar (prepared at 500°C) increased nitrate-nitrogen leaching by 86.52% compared to the control treatment. The sequencing of microorganisms also revealed that biochar changed the structure and abundance of the soil microbial community, especially increasing the relative abundance of the Helicobacter nitrification phylum by 2.02%. These results indicates that biochar facilitated the adsorption of ammonium nitrogen and the conversion of nitrate nitrogen, and solving the problem of low nitrogen fertilizer utilization while promoting the formation of beneficial bacteria in the soil.

RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 12200-12208
Author(s):  
Di Zhang ◽  
Ting Li ◽  
Aifang Ding ◽  
Xiaoxia Wu

A two-year pot experiment was conducted with an amendment of hydroxyapatite, bentonite and biochar combinations (HTB) to study the influence of HTB on soil physicochemical properties, soil Cd and Pb availability and microbial community composition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaobao Wang ◽  
Yan Yang ◽  
Yuzhen Xia ◽  
Tao Wu ◽  
Jie Zhu ◽  
...  

AbstractSoil physicochemical properties and microbial diversity both play equally important roles in tobacco cultivation. However, the relationship between these factors remains unclear. In this study, we investigated their correlations through the whole tobacco growth period, including the pretransplanting (YX-p), root extending (R), flourishing (F), and mature (M) stages in the Yuxi region of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau by measuring physicochemical properties and conducting 16S/18S rRNA analysis. The analysis demonstrated that the microbial community richness and diversity continuously changed along with the growth course of the tobacco. Multiple environmental factors showed a certain correlation with the diversity of microbial communities. Some bacteria could accumulate nitrogen during the growth stages, and the diversity of the bacterial community also increased when the content of organic matter rose. In addition, the water content and available K also influenced the diversity of the microbial community. The dynamic changes in soil physicochemical properties and enzyme activities gave rise to differences in the microbial community composition and structure, all of which affected the growth of tobacco. This study revealed the time-course relationship between environmental factors and microbial diversity in tobacco soil. An understanding of this relationship provides guidance for research on the interaction system of plants, soil and microbes and on improving plant yield and quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunfeng Luo ◽  
Zhongke Wang ◽  
Yaling He ◽  
Guifang Li ◽  
Xinhua Lv ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Ferula sinkiangensis is an increasingly endangered medicinal plant. Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) are symbiotic microorganisms that live in the soil wherein they enhance nutrient uptake, stress resistance, and pathogen defense in host plants. While such AMF have the potential to contribute to the cultivation of Ferula sinkiangensis, the composition of AMF communities associated with Ferula sinkiangensis and the relationship between these fungi and other pertinent abiotic factors still remains to be clarified. Results Herein, we collected rhizosphere and surrounding soil samples at a range of depths (0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm) and a range of slope positions (bottom, middle, top). These samples were then subjected to analyses of soil physicochemical properties and high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq). We determined that Glomus and Diversispora species were highly enriched in all samples. We further found that AMF diversity and richness varied significantly as a function of slope position, with this variation primarily being tied to differences in relative Glomus and Diversispora abundance. In contrast, no significant relationship was observed between soil depth and overall AMF composition, although some AMF species were found to be sensitive to soil depth. Many factors significantly affected AMF community composition, including organic matter content, total nitrogen, total potassium, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, available potassium, total dissolvable salt levels, pH, soil water content, and slope position. We further determined that Shannon diversity index values in these communities were positively correlated with total phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen levels, and pH values (P < 0.05), whereas total phosphorus, total dissolvable salt levels, and pH were positively correlated with Chao1 values (P < 0.05). Conclusion In summary, our data revealed that Glomus and Diversispora are key AMF genera found within Ferula sinkiangensis rhizosphere soil. These fungi are closely associated with specific environmental and soil physicochemical properties, and these soil sample properties also differed significantly as a function of slope position (P < 0.05). Together, our results provide new insights regarding the relationship between AMF species and Ferula sinkiangensis, offering a theoretical basis for further studies of their development.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Jie He ◽  
Quanhou Dai ◽  
Fengwei Xu ◽  
Youjin Yan ◽  
Xudong Peng

Plantations play a vital role in the global nutrient cycle because they have large stocks of soil macronutrients. However, the impacts of plantations on soil macronutrient stocks combined with stand age and soil physicochemical properties have not been well quantified. We compared soil macronutrient stocks at soil depths of 0−20 and 20−40 cm across a 7-, 14-, 25-, and 30-year chronosequence of Masson pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.) plantations. The results showed that the nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) stocks first increased and then decreased with stand age. The highest N and P stocks were observed in the 14-year-old plantation, and the 25-year-old plantation displayed the highest K stock. The C, N, and P stocks declined with increasing soil depth across all sites, whereas the reverse trend was found in the K stock. Carbon stocks were highest for all plantations, followed by the K, N, and P stocks. Plantation soils exhibited a higher C:P ratio and a lower P:K ratio at various soil depths. The dominant controlling factors for the soil macronutrient stocks varied significantly at different stand ages and soil depths according to statistical analysis. For the total soil system, the C stock was affected by the available nutrients, organic matter, and stoichiometry; the available nutrients and organic matter were the determinant factors of the N and P stocks. Aggregate stability could be the primary parameter affecting the K stock. Organic matter explained most of the variation in soil macronutrient stocks, followed by the P:K ratio and available K. Collectively, our results suggest that the response of soil macronutrient stocks to stand age and soil depth will be dependent on different soil physicochemical properties, and P and K may be important limiting factors in Masson pine plantation ecosystems.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shouke Zhang ◽  
Junqia Kong ◽  
Zikun Li ◽  
Feng Song ◽  
Xinhua He ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) can affect the structures and functions of soil microbiomes. However, the core bacteria associated with PSMs, and their corresponding functions have not been explored extensively. In this study, soil physicochemical properties, tea saponin contents, microbial community compositions, and microbial community functions of different-age Camellia oleifera plantation soils from representative regions were analyzed. We evaluated the effects of plantation age increase on PSM accumulation, and the subsequent consequences on the structures and functions of soil microbiomes. Results Plantation ages increase positively corresponded with accumulated tea saponin contents, with negative effects on soil physicochemical properties, and soil microbiome structures and functions. Older plantation soil microbiomes exhibited simpler structures, lower diversity, and relatively looser putative interactions based on network analysis. Clearly, the core functions of soil microbiomes transitioned to those associated with PSM metabolisms, while microbial pathways involved in cellulose degradation were inhibited. Degradation experiments further confirmed that older plantation soils exhibited the higher capacity on tea saponin degradation but poorer on furfural. Conclusions This study systematically explored the influences of PSMs on soil microbiomes via the investigation of key bacterial populations and their functional pathways. With the increase of planting years, increased tea saponin content simplified the soil microbiomes diversity, inhibited the degradation of organic matter, and enriched the genes related to the degradation of tea saponin. These findings significantly advance our understanding on PSMs-microbiome interactions and could provide fundamental and important data for sustainable management of Camellia plantations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11684
Author(s):  
Li Fan ◽  
Weiping Zhao ◽  
Wendan Feng ◽  
Ping Mo ◽  
Yunlin Zhao ◽  
...  

Soil microorganisms play an important role in regulating a variety of ecological functions. In recent years, the research on ecological restoration after mining has made people more aware of the importance of microbial diversity to ecosystem restoration. The present study investigated the effect of ecological restoration on microbial community structure and its relationship with soil physicochemical properties in the Dabaoshan mining area, China. High throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze and compare the microbial community composition of three types of soil (undamaged area, unrestoration area, and ecological restoration area). The contents of organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were 2.38–12.97 g/kg, 0.39–1.62 g/kg, and 0.99–1.51 g/kg, respectively. In different soil states, undamaged area and ecological restoration area were significantly higher than those in unrestoration area. The results showed that the structure of soil microbial community was significantly correlated with soil physicochemical properties, and formations in the repaired and unrepaired soils were different. Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) cluster analysis and diversity index analysis showed that soil microbial community changed at phylum and genus levels. The results showed that at the phylum level, all soil samples contained Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and actinobacteria. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria of the ecological restoration area (ER1, ER2) were the highest in relative abundance compared with other samples, accounting for more than 45%. Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the dominant phylum in the undamaged area (UD), accounting for 32.7% and 22.3%, respectively. It can be seen that soil restoration produced a new dominant population, and Proteobacteria showed an absolute competitive advantage in the mining soil.


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