Jun Yang, Chenrui Liu, Runze Wang, Junfeng Xu, Cui Huang, Wenxiang Wang, Siqi Zhang, Wenting She, Xuemei Zhang, Mei Shi, Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez, Yinglong Chen, Zhaohui Wang
{"title":"Unlocking Zn biofortification: leveraging high-Zn wheat and rhizospheric microbiome interactions in high-pH soils","authors":"Jun Yang, Chenrui Liu, Runze Wang, Junfeng Xu, Cui Huang, Wenxiang Wang, Siqi Zhang, Wenting She, Xuemei Zhang, Mei Shi, Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez, Yinglong Chen, Zhaohui Wang","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01849-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01849-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cereals zinc (Zn) biofortification represents an effective strategy for alleviating human Zn malnutrition. However, understanding how to enhance Zn uptake in shoots by optimizing the soil–root interface, particularly considering Zn availability, microbiome interactions, and plant physiology, remains poorly understood, especially in high-pH soils. In this study, we investigated Zn rhizomobilization, plant Zn uptake, and the composition of bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere and roots of ten high-yielding wheat cultivars with consistently contrasting grain Zn concentrations, within calcareous fields. We found that a range of beneficial bacteria, fungi/mycorrhizas, and their interactions play crucial roles in Zn rhizomobilization and wheat Zn uptake. Zn-solubilizing rhizobacteria demonstrated the ability to enhance Zn rhizomobilization, leading to a 35.4% increase in available Zn concentration and a 0.11 units reduction of soil pH. Increased colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, along with reduced the presence of fungal pathogens, significantly promoted Zn uptake, ranging from 22 to 132% per unit of root biomass. Additionally, the enriched bacteria relevant with nitrogen cycle and plant growth-promotion not only optimized soil mineral-N/available-P supply but also potentially suppressed fungal pathogens in root and rhizosphere. Optimizing the microbiome to enhance soil nutrient supply and root health emerges as a promising strategy for improving Zn-efficient wheat cultivars’ ability to uptake Zn in shoots. Combining Zn-efficient cultivars with specific soil bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere holds potential for realizing Zn biofortification in wheat.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141618248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
María del Valle Muñoz-Muñoz, Rocío López-Cabeza, Beatriz Gámiz, Rafael Celis
{"title":"Soil effects on the plant growth inhibitory activity of S-abscisic acid","authors":"María del Valle Muñoz-Muñoz, Rocío López-Cabeza, Beatriz Gámiz, Rafael Celis","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01844-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01844-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The use of natural plant growth regulators (PGRs) as ecofriendly agrochemicals is gaining much attention, but the fate of these compounds once they enter the soil environment is poorly understood. In this work, we compared the plant growth inhibitory activity of the phytohormone S-abscisic acid (S-ABA) in the presence of three soils with that observed in soilless (Petri dish) conditions and related the differences in activity to the sorption and dissipation processes of the phytohormone in the soils. In Petri dishes, S-ABA inhibited the germination of <i>Eruca sativa</i>, <i>Allium porrum</i>, <i>Lactuca sativa</i>, and <i>Hordeum vulgare</i> with mean inhibitory concentration values (<i>IC</i><sub>50</sub>) in the range of 0.5–8.2 mg/L. <i>Eruca sativa</i> was selected for subsequent studies based on its high sensitivity to S-ABA (<i>IC</i><sub>50</sub> = 0.5 mg/L). The inhibition of germination of <i>E. sativa</i> by S-ABA was fully reversible at a low phytohormone concentration (5 mg/L) and partially reversible at a higher phytohormone concentration (60 mg/L). S-ABA also inhibited the growth of pre-germinated seedlings of <i>E. sativa</i>, albeit at higher concentrations than those at which it inhibited germination. The three soils used in the study weakened the inhibitory activity of S-ABA by soil factors in the range of 0.008–0.380. As S-ABA displayed low or even negative sorption in the soils tested, the decrease in the activity of S-ABA was attributed to its biodegradation in the soils, rather than to a decrease in its bioavailability due to sorption. Despite the reduction in the activity of S-ABA observed in the presence of the soils, the phytohormone still expressed its activity at quite low soil concentrations (0.3–20 mg/kg), showing higher activity in soils where the compound degraded more slowly.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141602690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Reinhard Well, Nicolas Ruoss, Balazs Grosz, Joachim Brunotte, Caroline Buchen-Tschiskale, Dominika Lewicka-Szczebak, Bernhard C. Schäfer
{"title":"Effect of agricultural management system (“cash crop”, “livestock” and “climate optimized”) on nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions","authors":"Reinhard Well, Nicolas Ruoss, Balazs Grosz, Joachim Brunotte, Caroline Buchen-Tschiskale, Dominika Lewicka-Szczebak, Bernhard C. Schäfer","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01843-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01843-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The study aimed to measure soil-atmosphere N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes and their controlling factors, as well as NH<sub>3</sub> emissions and yields for two soils (silt loam and clay loam) in three management systems over two years under subsequent wheat and maize cultivation. The management systems were characterized as follows: (1) cash crop (C) with mineral fertilizer and conventional tillage; (2) livestock (L) with biogas residue fertilization and its incorporation prior to sowing in maize and reduced tillage; and (3) climate optimized (O) with minimum tillage, 8-year crop rotation, with biogas residue fertilization, in maize without incorporation in clay loam soil or incorporation by strip-tillage prior to seeding in silt loam soil. Stable isotope ratios of N<sub>2</sub>O and mineral N were determined to identify N<sub>2</sub>O processes. Within the organically fertilized maize treatments, cumulative N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes were highest in the O-system treatments of both sites (4.0 to 9.4 kg N ha<sup>− 1</sup> a<sup>− 1</sup>), i.e. more than twice as high as in the L-system (1.5 to 3.1 kg N ha<sup>− 1</sup> a<sup>− 1</sup>). Below root-strip till fertilizer application did not enhance N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes. Fluxes with mineral fertilization of wheat (1.1 to 3.1 kg N ha<sup>− 1</sup> a<sup>− 1</sup>) were not different from those with organic fertilization. Isotopic values of emitted N<sub>2</sub>O revealed that bacterial denitrification dominated most of the peak flux events, while the N<sub>2</sub>O/(N<sub>2</sub> + N<sub>2</sub>O) ratio of denitrification was mostly between 0.1 and 0.5. It can be concluded that, contrary to the intention to lower greenhouse gas fluxes by the O-system management, the highest N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes occurred in the O-system without biogas digestate incorporation in maize. With respect to NH<sub>3</sub> fluxes, we could confirm that the application of digestate application in growing crops without incorporation or late incorporation in fertilization before sowing induces high fluxes. The beneficial aspects of the O-system including more stable soil structure and resource conservation, are thus potentially counteracted by increased N<sub>2</sub>O and NH<sub>3</sub> emissions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141597649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chengyang Li, Chimin Lai, Fei Peng, Jun Zhou, Wu Zhang, Xiuli Song, Songying Luo, Jianbo Sun, Xiaojie Chen, Ben Chen, Ji Chen, Xian Xue
{"title":"Restoration of degraded alpine meadows from the perspective of plant–soil feedbacks","authors":"Chengyang Li, Chimin Lai, Fei Peng, Jun Zhou, Wu Zhang, Xiuli Song, Songying Luo, Jianbo Sun, Xiaojie Chen, Ben Chen, Ji Chen, Xian Xue","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01847-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01847-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding the plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) of dominant species of alpine meadow under different degradation status could provide insights into sustainable restoration. The direction, strength, and influencing factors of dominant species’ PSFs in nondegraded (Intact), moderately degraded (MD), and severely degraded (SD) alpine meadows were examined in a two-phase PSFs experiment. Species of Intact exhibited neutral conspecific PSFs, whereas those of MD and SD exhibited negative conspecific PSFs. The species of MD demonstrated neutral heterospecific PSFs to those of Intact, whereas that of SD negatively feedbacked to those of Intact and MD. The NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>-N and NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N of soil conditioned by the species of Intact were 66% and 58% higher than the control (mixture soil conditioned by all species); but they were 37% and 32% lower in soil conditioned by the dominant species of SD. The relative abundance of soil fungal pathotrophs was 57% and 74% higher in soil conditioned by the dominant species of MD and SD than in Intact soil. The conspecific and heterospecific PSFs of all species positively correlated with the plant conditioning and degradation induced changes of difference in NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>-N and NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N and negatively correlated with the difference in relative abundance of pathotrophs. Soil microorganisms and nutrients explained most of the variation in conspecific (43%) and heterospecific PSFs (60%). Our results indicated that the N addition would facilitate the sustainable restoration of degraded alpine meadows because the addition of available N could drive the heterospecific PSFs toward more positive.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141597644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The contribution of the phototrophic fraction in the fertility of different successional stages of induced biological soil crusts","authors":"Gianmarco Mugnai, Sonia Chamizo, Giacomo Certini, Hua Li, Federico Rossi, Alessandra Adessi","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01840-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01840-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Inoculation of cyanobacteria has been studied as a valuable approach to promote soil stabilization and fertilization and counteract the erosion of marginal soils. One of the results of the inoculation of cyanobacteria is the formation of biological soil crusts, or biocrusts, which are complex soil communities playing a pivotal role in providing essential ecosystem services in drylands. While numerous studies have addressed the effects of different biocrust attributes on ecosystem functions, few studies have focused on the distribution of biocrust successional stages in the soil and their link with soil fertility properties. In this work, we investigated how the distribution of biocrust types (cyano-crust; cyano/moss crust, and moss crust) is related to soil nutrient status. We evaluated phototrophic abundance, exopolysaccharide production, and nutrient content in distinct biocrust types in an experimental area in the Hopq Desert, China, where their occurrence had been induced by cyanobacteria inoculation. In addition, we investigated the correlation between these variables. Photosynthetic pigment content, total carbohydrates, exopolysaccharides, organic C, and total N increased during the biocrust maturation stages. We found significant correlations between the levels of organic C, total carbohydrates, and total N with the abundance of diazotrophic cyanobacteria. Organic N was greater in the cyano/moss crust, while available P accumulated mainly in the cyano-crust. The three biocrust types are essential to each other as each represents a stage in which distinct nutrients are stored. This study complements previous studies by offering a more comprehensive view of how phototrophic variability in the distribution of biocrusts dominated by cyanobacteria or by mosses is closely interconnected with nutrient content and biocrust development.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141545769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effect of biodegradable plastics on greenhouse gas emission and paddy rice growth under flooding conditions","authors":"Kazuyuki Inubushi, Iori Sahara, Taku Kato, Hiroyuki Oshima","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01838-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01838-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biodegradable plastics applied to soil stimulate the production of greenhouse gases and inhibit plant growth under aerobic conditions. This study aimed to examine the effects of biodegradable plastics on paddy rice growth and greenhouse gas emission under flooding conditions in pot experiments and also on greenhouse gas production under flooding conditions in an incubation experiment. Two series of pot experiments were conducted with rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i>). First series as <i>immediate flooded</i> and 2nd series as <i>2 weeks nonflooding</i> before flooded, and both kept flooded until harvest. The following four kinds of materials were added to the sandy paddy soil, (1) nonwoven <i>fabric</i> sheets made of polylactic acid and polybutylene-succinate, (2) <i>laminate</i> sheets made of polybutylene adipate terephthalate and pulp, (3) <i>cellulose</i> filter paper, and (4) rice straw. Only soil was used as control. Methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) emission, measured by chamber method followed by gas chromatography, was significantly larger only in the <i>cellulose</i> treatment than the <i>laminate</i> treatment in the <i>immediate flooded</i> series, indicating that biodegradable plastics had no significant impact on CH<sub>4</sub> emission from paddy rice soil. Rice growth and yield did not show significant difference among treatments in both series. Incubation experiment showed the largest CH<sub>4</sub> production in <i>cellulose</i>-amended soil, followed by <i>straw</i>-amended and <i>laminate</i> amended soils, and least in <i>fabric</i>-amended soil, while CO<sub>2</sub> did not show significant differences among treatments. We need further examination with different biodegradable plastics for a longer period that test used in this study.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141475320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tao Wang, Chengyang Ji, Wei Zhou, Hong Chen, Yong Chen, Qi Liu, Tao Cao, Zhiping Yang, Yong Fu, Xueping Yue, Fei Deng, Xiaolong Lei, Youfeng Tao, Hong Cheng, Shulan Fu, Wanjun Ren
{"title":"Dry season residual straw reduces nitrous oxide emissions during rice season in upland-paddy rotation systems by inhibiting soil denitrification","authors":"Tao Wang, Chengyang Ji, Wei Zhou, Hong Chen, Yong Chen, Qi Liu, Tao Cao, Zhiping Yang, Yong Fu, Xueping Yue, Fei Deng, Xiaolong Lei, Youfeng Tao, Hong Cheng, Shulan Fu, Wanjun Ren","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01842-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01842-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The mechanism by which residual straw incorporation affects nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO<sub>2</sub>-eq) emissions throughout the rice season under upland-paddy rotation systems is currently unknown. We aimed to elucidate its effect using a four-year experiment and meta-analysis in southwest China. In garlic–rice (GR) and wheat–rice (WR) systems, residual straw incorporation significantly decreased N<sub>2</sub>O emissions (43.6% and 73.5%, respectively) and NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>-N concentrations, relative abundance of denitrifying bacteria (<i>Anaeromyxobacter</i>, <i>Bacillus</i> and <i>Hyphomicrobium</i>), and copy numbers of the <i>norB</i> and <i>nosZ</i> genes. Ultimately, the soil denitrification rate was reduced during rice tillering and full heading periods, but the soil organic nitrogen accumulation level was increased. The reduction in N<sub>2</sub>O also resulted in an average reduction in the total CO<sub>2</sub>-eq of the GR (23.4%) and WR (32.9%) systems in 2021–2022. In addition, the meta-analysis results showed that straw incorporation had a generally positive effect on soil N<sub>2</sub>O emissions, but this effect was negative during the rice season in upland-paddy rotation systems, which supports the main results of our study. The path analysis results indicated that dry season residual straw incorporation slowed N<sub>2</sub>O emissions during the rice season by increasing the soil C/N ratio and downregulating denitrifying microorganisms, thereby inhibiting the denitrification rate. Our findings challenge the understanding that straw incorporation increases greenhouse gas emissions during the rice season and suggest that future estimates of straw incorporation on methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) emissions during the rice season should consider the offsetting effect of N<sub>2</sub>O.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141489546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Huihui Sun, Mark Radosevich, Yanchen Sun, Larry Millet, Shuo Qian, Jie Zhuang
{"title":"Pore confinement enhances but surface adhesion reduces bacterial cell-to-cell conjugation","authors":"Huihui Sun, Mark Radosevich, Yanchen Sun, Larry Millet, Shuo Qian, Jie Zhuang","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01841-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01841-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As the habitats of bacteria, soil pore network and surface properties control the distribution, adhesion, and motility of bacteria in soils. These physical processes in turn influence bacterial accesses to nutrients and bacterial interactions. Our understanding on the pore- and surface-mediated bacterial interactions is currently limited. In this research, we evaluated the effects of soil pore confinement and surface adhesion on conjugation-based bacterial interactions. The interaction was measured by plasmid transfer between donor and recipient cells within the population of soil bacterium <i>Pseudomonas putida</i>. We found that the presence of porous sand media led to a net increase in conjugation frequency compared to sand-free liquid control. The increase is attributed to the facilitated effect of pore confinement on the collision of bacteria within pores. In contrast, bacterial adhesion to sand surfaces under elevated ionic strength conditions decreased the conjugation frequency as a result of mobility reduction on the surface. Such collision and adhesion mechanisms jointly drive the conjugation as a function of pore and surface properties of porous media. These results provide valuable insights into the roles of soil pores and surfaces in regulating horizontal gene transfer, an essential cell-to-cell interaction sustaining key processes of soil ecology and health.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141462538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transport of plant growth promoting bacteria (Azospirillum brasilense) in sand under transient water flow: effect of inoculation regime","authors":"Fengxian Chen, Zeev Ronen, Gilboa Arye","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01839-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01839-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Time dependent deposition of two <i>Azospirillum brasilense</i> strains in sand quantified.</p>\u0000<p>Three inclusions regimes examined: surface, subsurface and premixed.</p>\u0000<p>For surface and subsurface the bacteria accumulated near the point source and remained stagnant in the premixed.</p>\u0000<p>The attachment/detachment numerical model found adequate to describe the time dependent deposition profiles of the bacteria.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141448108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Genotypic richness affects inorganic N uptake and N form preference of a clonal plant via altering soil N pools","authors":"Jia-Tao Zhu, Jun-Qin Gao, Wei Xue, Qian-Wei Li, Fei-Hai Yu","doi":"10.1007/s00374-024-01837-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-024-01837-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Similar to species richness, genotypic richness of plants plays a pivotal role in the structure and function of ecosystems. While the contribution of intraspecific variability to ecosystem function has been well-established, the mechanisms underlying the effect of genotypic richness on nitrogen (N) uptake patten remain poorly understood. We established experimental populations consisting of 1, 4, or 8 genotypes of the clonal plant <i>Hydrocotyle verticillata</i> in microcosms and conducted <sup>15</sup>N-labeling to quantify plant N uptake. NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N uptake rate of the populations with 8 genotypes was significantly higher than that of the populations with 1- and 4-genotypes, while genotypic richness did not influence NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>-N uptake rate. Increasing genotypic richness also enhanced NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N uptake preference and reduced NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>-N uptake preference. Additionally, increasing genotypic richness facilitated the transformation of the soil nitrogen pool, resulting in a reduction of total soil N content and an increase in soil NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N, thereby causing a shift in population N uptake preference. Our findings highlight the importance of genotypic richness on both N uptake and N form preference of plant populations. Such intraspecific variability in N uptake and N form preference may further influence population dynamics and ecosystem function.</p>","PeriodicalId":9210,"journal":{"name":"Biology and Fertility of Soils","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141444904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}