Soil microbial community composition and its role in carbon mineralization in long-term fertilization paddy soils

Xiaoqin Dai; Huimin Wang; Xiaoli Fu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.212

Soil microbial community composition and its role in carbon mineralization in long-term fertilization paddy soils

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Feb 15:580:556-563. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.212. Epub 2016 Dec 12.

Authors

Xiaoqin Dai¹, Huimin Wang², Xiaoli Fu³

Affiliations

¹ Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Processes and Information, Ji'an, 343725, China. Electronic address: daixq@igsnrr.ac.cn.
² Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Processes and Information, Ji'an, 343725, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
³ Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Processes and Information, Ji'an, 343725, China.

PMID: 27979623
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.212

Abstract

Microbial communities are critical in mediating soil biological processes, including C mineralization; yet, the mechanism of microbial mediation for soil C mineralization remains poorly understood under the long-term fertilization. To identify the relative roles of microbes in C mineralization in the soil of rice paddies, we investigated the long-term (11years) effects of repeated N, P, and K fertilization on crop yield, soil properties and microbial communities and their relationships with C mineralization. The treatments included: no fertilization (control); normal fertilization (NPK); doubling the amount of N, P or K fertilizer (2NPK, N2PK, or NP2K); and doubling the amount of all three (2(NPK)). Long-term fertilization significantly increased rice yields by 3.4 to 4.8 times, and yield significantly improved by 23-32% with higher N fertilization. Increasing N fertilization significantly decreased total N and total P concentrations, while increasing P fertilization significantly increased soil pH, Olsen-P and total P concentrations. Increasing N and P fertilization changed soil microbial community compositions; pH and ratio of SOC and TN (C:N) were the most important contributors to the variance in microbial community composition. Increasing P fertilization decreased the abundance of Gram-positive and actinomycetes phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and significantly increased the ratio of fungal to bacterial PLFA. However, the alterations in soil microbial abundance and community composition did not significantly influence the C mineralization, while it significantly was determined by C:N ratio and marginally by crop yield. The results suggest that substrate quality (C:N ratio) and availability (crop yield), having a closer relationship with C mineralization compared to soil microbial communities, should be preferentially considered to predicting C mineralization under long-term fertilization.

Keywords: Chemical fertilizer; Double rice cropping; Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA); Red soils; Subtropical China.