Effects of the nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin and tillage practices on yield-scaled nitrous oxide emission from a maize field in Iran

Nitrification inhibitors can effectively decrease nitrification rates and nitrous oxide(N_(2)O)emission while increasing crop yield under certain conditions.However,there is no information available on the effects of nitrification inhibitors and tillage practices on N_(2)O emissions from maize cropping in Iran.To study how tillage practices and nitrapyrin(a nitrification inhibitor)affect N_(2)O emission,a split factorial experiment using a completely randomized block design with three replications was carried out in Northeast Iran,which has a cold semiarid climate.Two main plots were created with conventional tillage and minimum tillage levels,and two nitrogen(N)fertilizer(urea)management systems(with and without nitrapyrin application)were created as subplots.Tillage level did not have any significant effect on soil ammonium(NH_(4)^(+))and nitrate(NO_(3)^(-))concentrations,cumulative amount and yield-scaled N_(2)O emission,and aboveground biomass of maize,whereas nitrapyrin application showed significant effect.Nitrapyrin application significantly reduced the cumulative amount of N_(2)O emission by 41%and 32%in conventional tillage and minimum tillage practices,respectively.A reduction in soil NO_(3)^(-)concentration by nitrapyrin was also observed.The average yield-scaled N_(2)O emission was 13.6 g N_(2)O-N kg^(-1)N uptake in both tillage systems without nitrapyrin application and was significantly reduced to 7.9 and 8.2 g N_(2)O-N kg^(-1)N uptake upon the application of nitrapyrin in minimum tillage and conventional tillage practices,respectively.Additionally,nitrapyrin application increased maize biomass yield by 4%and 13%in the minimum tillage and conventional tillage systems,respectively.Our results indicate that nitrapyrin has a potential role in reducing N_(2)O emission from agricultural systems where urea fertilizers are broadcasted,which is common in Iran due to the practice of traditional farming.

Drying-rewetting cycles reduce bacterial diversity and carbon loss in soil on the Loess Plateau of China

With global climate change, soil drying-rewetting(DRW) events have intensified and occurred frequently on the Loess Plateau of China. However, the extent to which the DRW cycles with different wetting intensities and cycle numbers alter microbial community and respiration is barely understood. Here,indoor DRW one and four cycles treatments were implemented on soil samples obtained from the Loess Plateau, involving increase of soil moisture from10% water-holding capacity(WHC) to 60% and 90% WHC(i.e., 10%–60% and 10%–90% WHC, respectively). Constant soil moistures of 10%, 60%,and 90% WHC were used as the controls. The results showed that bacterial diversity and richness decreased and those of fungi remained unchanged under DRW treatments compared to the controls. Under all moisture levels, Actinobacteriota and Ascomycota were the most dominant bacterial and fungal phyla,respectively. The bacterial network was more complex than that of fungi, indicating that bacteria had a greater potential for interaction and niche sharing under DRW treatments. The pulse of respiration rate declined as the DRW cycle increased under 10%–60% WHC, but remained similar for different cycles under 10%–90% WHC. Moreover, the DRW treatments reduced the overall carbon loss, and the direct carbon release under 10%–60% WHC was larger than that under 10%–90% WHC. The cumulative CO_(2) emissions after four DRW cycles were significantly positively correlated with microbial biomass carbon and negatively correlated with fungal richness(Chao 1).

Soil respiration associated with plant succession at the meadow steppes in Songnen Plain, Northeast China

Aims Soil CO_(2) emission from steppes is affected by soil properties and vegetation in different successional stages.Primary and secondary succession of plants frequently occurred at the meadow steppe in Songnen Plain,Northeast China,which indicates the large uncer-tainty associated with CO_(2) emission in this environment.This study aims to investigate the temporal variations of soil respiration(Rs)and the effect of plant succession on cumulative soil CO_(2) emission during the growing season.Methods Using a LI-6400 soil CO_(2) flux system,Rs of five vegetation types which represented different stages of plant succession in meadow steppes of Songnen Plain,China,was investigated during the grow-ing seasons of 2011 and 2012.Important Findings Soil temperature(Ts)was the dominant controlling factor of Rs,which could explain~64%of the change in CO_(2) fluxes.The Q10 values of Rs were ranged from 2.0 to 6.7,showing a decreasing trend with the plant successional stages.The cumulative CO_(2) emis-sion increased with the degree of vegetation succession and it aver-aged to 316±6 g C m^(−2)(ranges:74.8±6.7 to 516.5±11.4 g C m^(−2))during the growing season.The magnitude of soil CO_(2) emission during the growing season was positively correlated with above-ground plant biomass,soil organic carbon content and mean soil water content,while negatively linked to mean Ts,pH,electrical conductivity and exchangeable sodium percentages.The results implied that soil CO_(2) emission increased with the development of plant communities toward more advanced stages.Our findings pro-vided valuable information for understanding the variations of CO_(2) emission in the process of vegetation succession.