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Influence of chlorothalonil and carbendazim fungicides on the transformation processes of urea nitrogen and related microbial populations in soil

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Abstract

To improve crop yielding, a large amount of fungicides is continuously applied during the agricultural management, while the effects of fungicides residues on microbial processing of N in soil need further study. In the present study, two broad spectrum fungicides, chlorothalonil and carbendazim, were applied at the rates of 5, 10, and 50 mg of active ingredient (A.I.) per kg of dry soil combined with urea with 200 mg of N per kg of dry soil under laboratory conditions. The results showed that chlorothalonil obviously retarded the hydrolysis of urea, whereas carbendazim accelerated it in 4 days after the treatments (P < 0.05). Chlorothalonil reduced denitrification, nitrification, and N2O production (P < 0.05), but not for carbendazim. Further analysis on N-associated microbial communities showed chlorothalonil reduced nitrosomonas populations at the rates of 10 and 50 mg of A.I. per kg and autotrophic nitrifying bacterial populations at three application rates (P < 0.05), but Carbendazim decreased nitrosomonas populations only at the rate of 50 mg of A.I. per kg and also autotrophic nitrifying bacterial populations at three rates and heterotrophic nitrifying bacterial populations at the rates of 10 and 50 mg of A.I. per kg. The reasons for this difference were ascribed to arrest urea hydrolysis and impediment of denitrification and nitrification processes by chlorothalonil. In conclusion, to improve crop yielding, chlorothalonil might be more beneficial to conserve soil N by improving soil N fertility, compared with carbendazim.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31270556, 41501269), and Research project of Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (STIT2017-1-9).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, 350013, China

    Hong Ding, Xiangzhou Zheng, Jin Zhang, Yushu Zhang & Juhua Yu

  2. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, the University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

    Deli Chen

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  1. Hong Ding
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  2. Xiangzhou Zheng
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  3. Jin Zhang
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  4. Yushu Zhang
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Correspondence to Hong Ding.

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Ding, H., Zheng, X., Zhang, J. et al. Influence of chlorothalonil and carbendazim fungicides on the transformation processes of urea nitrogen and related microbial populations in soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 31133–31141 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06213-8

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