Abstract
To clarify whether Azotobacter chroococcum iinoculation disturbs soil stability, as well as the variations of plant properties and maize yield, we assessed the impacts of A. chroococcum inoculation on soil stability and analyzed using frameworks of soil resistance and resilience and simultaneously evaluated plant properties and maize yield during a 4-year period from 2016 to 2019. The contents of plant total nitrogen (N) and total phosphorus (P) were apparently increased in A. chroococcum inoculation treatment relative to the control treatment of non-inoculation of A. chroococcum, by changing the contents of soil ammonium-N (NH4+-N) at the seedling stage (+17.78%) and heading stage (+34.48%), as well as soil nitrate-N (NOx-N; −23.94%) and soil available P (Olsen-P; −15.38%) at the heading stage (P < 0.05). Moreover, the variations (0.87–1.38) of soil properties did not exceed resistance (RS) capacities (< 0.5 or > 1.5), except soil NH4+-N (RS = 2.19) in 2019. The resilience (RL) values (1.15–1.14) of soil NH4+-N were not markedly different compared with the threshold value of RL (i.e., 1.0), showing that the resilience capabilities of soil property were not altered by A. chroococcum inoculation. The average grain weight over 4 years was obviously higher in A. chroococcum inoculation treatment than that in the control treatment (+17.07%; P < 0.05). These results suggested that A. chroococcum inoculation has no adverse impacts on soil stability and potentially promotes the absorption of plant nutrients and yield improvement for maize crop.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ângelo RM, Ladeira LC, Arrobas M (2018) Azotobacter-enriched organic manures to increase nitrogen fixation and crop productivity. Eur J Agron 93:88–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2018.01.002
Ansari MF, Tipre DR, Dave SR (2015) Efficiency evaluation of commercial liquid biofertilizers for growth of Cicer arietinum (chickpea) in pot and field study. Biocatal Agr Biotechnol 4:17–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2014.09.010
Arora M, Saxena P, Choudhary DK, Abdin MZ, Varma A (2016) Dual symbiosis between Piriformospora indica and Azotobacter chroococcum enhances the artemisinin content in Artemisia annua L. World J Microb Biot 32:19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-015-1972-5
Bao SD (2000) Soil agricultural chemical analysis. Agriculture Press, Beijing
Basak BB, Biswas DR (2010) Co-inoculation of potassium solubilizing and nitrogen fixing bacteria on solubilization of waste mica and their effect on growth promotion and nutrient acquisition by a forage crop. Biol Fert Soils 46:641–648. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-010-0456-x
Feng QH, Miao GH, Xu ZJR, Shi ZM, Miao N, Li DF (2020) Effects of nitrogen application on photosynthetic physiological characteristics of Cupressus chengiana. Southwest China J Agr Sci. 33:1455-1460. https://doi.org/10.16213/j.cnki.Scjas.2020.7.018
Glick BR (2012) Plant growth-promoting bacteria: mechanisms and applications. Scientifica. 2012:1–15. https://doi.org/10.6064/2012/963401
Hu B, Chu C (2020) Nitrogen–phosphorus interplay: old story with molecular tale. New Phytol 225:1455–1460. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16102
Karthikeyan A, Sakthivel KM (2011) Efficacy of Azotobacter chroococcum in rooting and growth of Eucalyptus camaldulensis stem cuttings. Res J Microbiol 6:618–624. https://doi.org/10.3923/jm.2011.618.624
Kumar A, Sharma S, Mishra S (2015) Evaluating effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal consortia and Azotobacter chroococcum in improving biomass yield of Jatropha curcas. Plant Biosyst 150:1056–1064. https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2014.1001001
Li Z, Parajulee MN, Chen FJ (2018a) Influence of elevated CO2 on development and food utilization of armyworm Mythimna separata fed on transgenic Bt maize infected by nitrogen-fixing bacteria. PeerJ 6:5138. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5138
Li Z, Wang B, Tian D, Wang J (2018b) Bt rice cultivation does not cause soil biological degradation in terms of C, N, and P cycles. Land Degrad Dev 29:4140–4145. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3163
Liu LL, Greaver TL (2010) A global perspective on belowground carbon dynamics under nitrogen enrichment. Ecol Lett 13:819–828. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01482.x
Luo X, Mazer SJ, Guo H, Zhang N, Weiner J, Hu S (2016) Nitrogen: phosphorous supply ratio and allometry in five alpine plant species. Ecol Evol 6:8881–8892. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2587
Mahato S, Kafle A (2018) Comparative study of Azotobacter with or without other fertilizers on growth and yield of wheat in western hills of Nepal. Ann Agrarian Sci 16:250–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aasci.2018.04.004
Rocío-Anaís P, Varinia L, Islas A, Alcaraz LD, Olmedo-Alvarez G (2013) Antagonism influences assembly of a bacillus guild in a local community and is depicted as a food-chain network. Isme J 7:487–497. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2012.119
Sánchez-Pinillos M, Leduc A, Ameztegui A, Kneeshaw D, Lloret F, Coll L (2019) Resistance, resilience or change: post-disturbance dynamics of boreal forests after insect outbreaks. Ecosystems. 22:1886–1901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00378-6
Seybold C, Herrick J, Brejda J (1999) Soil resilience: a fundamental component of soil quality. Soil Sci 164:224–234. https://doi.org/10.1097/00010694-199904000-00002
Song YY, Liu JW, Li LK, Liu MQ, Chen XY, Chen FJ (2020a) Evaluating the effects of transgenic Bt rice cultivation on soil stability. Environ Sci & Pollution Res 27:17412–17419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08373-4
Song YY, Liu JW, Chen FJ (2020b) Azotobacter chroococcum inoculation can improve plant growth and resistance of maize to armyworm, Mythimna separata even under reduced nitrogen fertilizer application. Pest Manag Sci 76:4131–4140. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5969
Vance CP, Uhde-Stone C, Allan DL (2003) Phosphorus acquisition and use: critical adaptations by plants for securing a nonrenewable resource. New Phytol 157:423–447. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1469-8137.2003.00695.x
Vitousek P, Howarth R (1991) Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: how can it occur. Biogeochemistry. 13:87–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00002772
Vitousek P, Porder S, Houlton B (2010) Terrestrial phosphorus limitation: mechanisms implication and nitrogen-phosphorus interactions. Ecol Appl 20:5–15. https://doi.org/10.2307/27797785
Xue X, Zhang L, Peng Y, Li P, Yu J (2018) Effects of mineral structure and microenvironment on K release from potassium aluminosilicate minerals by Cenococcum geophilum fr. Geomicrobiol J 36:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490451.2018.1485064
Ye C, Chen D, Hall SJ, Pan S, Hu S (2018) Reconciling multiple impacts of nitrogen enrichment on soil carbon: plant, microbial and geochemical controls. Ecol Lett 21:1162–1173. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13083
Zhang ZH (2017) The relationship between nitrate transport and utilization in crop and nitrogen utilization efficiency. J Plant Nutr Fertilizer 23:217–223. https://doi.org/10.11674/zwyf.15357
Zhang L, Yang YH, Li Q, Wu YK, Huang JG (2013) Mobilization of inorganic phosphorus from soils by five Azotobacters. Acta Ecol Sin 33:2157–2164. https://doi.org/10.5846/stxb201112191930
Zhang L, Yuan L, Huang J (2015) Mobilization of potassium in soils by Azotobacter. Acta Pedol Sin 52:399–405 http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-TRXB201502017.htm
Zou X, Binkley D, Doxtader KG (1992) New method for estimating gross P mineralization and immobilization rates in soils. Plant Soil 147:243–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029076
Funding
This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFD0200400), the National Nature Science Foundations of China (NSFC) (31871963; 31272051), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYZ201818), the Qing-Lan Project of Jiangsu Province of China, and the Research Grant from the Innovation Project for Graduate Student of Jiangsu Province (KYLX16_1063).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Song, Y., Li, Z., Liu, J. et al. Evaluating the Impacts of Azotobacter chroococcum Inoculation on Soil Stability and Plant Property of Maize Crop. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 21, 824–831 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-020-00404-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-020-00404-w