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Biological nitrification inhibition by sorghum root exudates impacts ammonia-oxidizing bacteria but not ammonia-oxidizing archaea

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Abstract

Sorghum has a great capacity to release biological nitrification inhibitors (BNIs), but the inhibitory effect on nitrification and ammonia oxidizer populations under planted soil conditions is unclear. A pot experiment with three nitrogen (N) application rates (0, 50, and 200 mg N kg−1) was set up to detect the influence of sorghum growth on soil nitrification and investigate the function of blocking the activity of ammonia oxidizers. A 15N-labeled experiment was also conducted to detect the N form absorbed by sorghum. Sorghum root exudates were collected at 30 days after transplanting to hydroponic culture and added into cultured soil to determine the shifts in the populations of nitrifiers. The 15N labeling experiment showed that the uptake rate by sorghum of ammonium N fertilizer was 24% and that of nitrate N fertilizer was 9%, indicating that sorghum was an ammonium using plant. Compared with unplanted soil, sorghum planting had a significant inhibitory effect on the nitrification process even at the high-N fertilizer rates. Autotrophic nitrification was the prevailing process, and sorghum root exudation inhibited this process as much as dicyandiamide (DCD, 10 mg kg−1). Root exudates had a significant inhibitory effect on ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) but had no effect on ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA).

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41877051, 41525002, 41761134085) and the National Key R & D Program of China (2017YFD0200102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, People’s Republic of China

    Yaying Li, Yang Zhang & Huaiying Yao

  2. Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, Ningbo Urban Environment Observation and Research Station-NUEORS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315800, People’s Republic of China

    Yaying Li, Yang Zhang & Huaiying Yao

  3. The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, UK

    Stephen James Chapman

  4. Research Center for Environmental Ecology and Engineering, School of Environmental Ecology and Biological Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430073, People’s Republic of China

    Huaiying Yao

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  1. Yaying Li
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Correspondence to Huaiying Yao.

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Li, Y., Zhang, Y., Chapman, S.J. et al. Biological nitrification inhibition by sorghum root exudates impacts ammonia-oxidizing bacteria but not ammonia-oxidizing archaea. Biol Fertil Soils 57, 399–407 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01538-w

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