Nitrate and Ammonium Leaching in Variable-and Permanent-Charge Paddy Soils

A variable-charge （VC） and a permanent-charge paddy soil （PC） were selected to study nitrate-N （NO3^--N） and ammonium-N （NH4^＋-N） leaching with N isotopes for one consecutive year. An irrigation and intermittent drainage pattern was adopted to mimic natural occurrence of rainfall during the upland crop season and drainage management during the flooded rice season. Treatments to each soil type were no-N controls （CK）, ^15N-labeled （NH4）2SO4 （NS）, and milk vetch （NV） applied at a rate equivalent to 238 kg N ha^-1 to unplanted lysimeters, totaling six treatments in triplicates. Results indicated that the soil type dominated N leaching characteristics. In the case of PC, NO3^--N accounted for 78% of the total leached inorganic N; NS was prone to leach three times more than the NV, being 8.2% and 2.4% of added ^15N respectively; and 〉 85% of leached NO3-N came from of the total inorganic N in leachate. Moreover, NH4^＋-N native N in the soil. In the case of VC, NH4^＋-N made up to 92% leaching was detected throughout the whole incubation, and was particularly high during the flooded season. NO3^--N leaching in VC occurred later at a lower rate compared to that in PC. The findings of this study indicate that NO3^--N leaching during the drained season in permanent-charge paddy soils and NH4^＋-N leaching in variable-charge soils deserve more attention for regional environmental control.

Effect of orchard age on soil nitrogen transformation in subtropical China and implications

A better understanding of nitrogen transformation in soils could reveal the capacity for biological inorganic N supply and improve the efficiency of N fertilizers. In this study, a15 N tracing study was carried out to investigate the effects of converting woodland to orchard, and orchard age on the gross rates of N transformation occurring simultaneously in subtropical soils in Eastern China. The results showed that inorganic N supply rate was remained constant with soil organic C and N contents increased after converting woodland into citrus orchard and with increasing orchard age. This phenomenon was most probably due to the increase in the turnover time of recalcitrant organic-N, which increased with decreasing soil p H along with increasing orchard age significantly. The amo A gene copy numbers of both archaeal and bacterial were stimulated by orchard planting and increased with increasing orchard age. The nitrification capacity（defined as the ratio of gross rate of nitrification to total gross rate of mineralization） increased following the Michaelis–Menten equation, sharply in the first 10 years after woodland conversion to orchard, and increased continuously but much more slowly till 30 years. Due to the increase in nitrification capacity and unchanged NO3-consumption, the dominance of ammonium in inorganic N in woodland soil was shifted to nitrate dominance in orchard soils. These results indicated that the risk of NO3-loss was expected to increase and the amount of N needed from fertilizers for fruit growth did not change although soil organic N accumulated with orchard age.

Pseudomonas mendocina LYX:A novel aerobic bacterium with advantage of removing nitrate high effectively by assimilation and dissimilation simultaneously

The problem of nitrate accumulation in aerobic tank and total nitrogen excessive discharge in effluent was very common in traditional livestock and poultry farming wastewater treatment systems owing to the lengthy process flow and low process control level.A strain LYX of aerobic bacterium was isolated from the activated sludge of a wastewater treatment system in a pig farm,which could remove nitrate effectively in aerobic tank and was identified Pseudomonas mendocina by 16S rRNA sequencing.Under the condition of nitrate as the sole nitrogen source,this strain removed over 90%of NO_(3)^(−)-N with an initial concentration of 110 mg/L under aerobic conditions within 48 hours.Among them,37.9%of NO_(3)^(−)-N was assimilated into Bio-N,about 51.9%was reduced to gaseous nitrogen and less than 0.5%of nitrogen was replaced by NO_(3)^(−)-N and NH_(4)^(+)-N,9.7%NO_(3)^(−)-N remained in the effluent at the end.At the same time,four key genes(napA,nirK,norB and nosZ)related to nitrate nitrogen removal were expressed during the denitrification process of P.mendocina LYX,in which the transcription level of the indicator genes of this aerobic denitrifying bacterium(napA)was the highest.In addition,it was found with the 15N tracer technique that inoculation of this strain on sludge increased the amount of nitrogen loss from 9.26 nmol N/(g·h)to 23.835 nmol N/(g·h).Therefore,P.medocina LYX is a potential bioagent for advanced nitrogen removal by assimilating and reducing nitrate simultaneously in aerobic tanks.