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Effects of nitrification inhibitors on gross N nitrification rate, ammonia oxidizers, and N2O production under different temperatures in two pasture soils

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Abstract

Australian pasture soil for cattle and sheep industries constitutes the principal land use with considerable N fertilizer consumption, which is one of the causes of local environmental problems. Nitrification plays a key role in regulating soil inorganic N concentration and its environmental diffusion. The effects of different nitrification inhibitors (NIs) on gross N nitrification (ngross) rate and N2O production under different temperatures in pasture soils remain unclear. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to determine the effect of NIs (dicyandiamide [DCD], 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate [DMPP], and 3-methylpyrazol and 1H-1,2,4-triazol [3MP + TZ]) on N2O emissions, ngross and net N nitrification (nnet) rates, and the abundance of ammonia oxidizers, namely, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), in two Australian pasture soils incubated at temperatures of 15, 25, and 35 °C. All NIs reduced both ngross and nnet rates and N2O production rate from the two pasture soils but to different extents. The inhibitory rates of NIs on ngross and nnet reached 6.80–63.8 and 5.91–62.3%, respectively, whereas that on N2O production rate totaled 4.5–41.4% in the tested soils. NIs reduced nitrification and N2O production by inhibiting the growth of AOB rather than AOA. The inhibitory effects of NIs were temperature-dependent, that is, decreasing with increasing temperature from 15 to 35 °C. In general, DMPP performed better than DCD and 3MP + TZ at 15 and 35 °C, whereas DCD performed more effectively than the other two NIs at 25 °C. Our results suggest that the utilization of NIs will depend on the conditions present, especially soil temperature. Additionally, AOB is the target of inhibition when mitigating nitrification and N2O emission by applying NIs in pasture soils.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments to improve this manuscript.

Funding

This work received support from the Incitec Pivot, the Australian Government Department of Agriculture through the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Australian Research Council, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, with grant numbers DE150100870, DP160101028, LP160101134, and 41501243, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China

    Ting Lan & Shu Yuan

  2. Faculty of Veterinary and Agriculture Science, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Ting Lan, Helen Suter, Rui Liu & Deli Chen

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  1. Ting Lan
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Correspondence to Ting Lan.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Lan, T., Suter, H., Liu, R. et al. Effects of nitrification inhibitors on gross N nitrification rate, ammonia oxidizers, and N2O production under different temperatures in two pasture soils. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 28344–28354 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2873-6

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