Biological nitrification inhibitor co-application with urease inhibitor or biochar yield different synergistic interaction effects on NH3 volatilization, N leaching, and N use efficiency in a calcareous soil under rice cropping

Ting Lan; Yuxiao Huang; Xi Song; Ouping Deng; Wei Zhou; Ling Luo; Xiaoyan Tang; Jian Zeng; Guangdeng Chen; Xuesong Gao

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118499

Biological nitrification inhibitor co-application with urease inhibitor or biochar yield different synergistic interaction effects on NH₃ volatilization, N leaching, and N use efficiency in a calcareous soil under rice cropping

Environ Pollut. 2022 Jan 15:293:118499. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118499. Epub 2021 Nov 15.

Authors

Ting Lan¹, Yuxiao Huang², Xi Song², Ouping Deng², Wei Zhou², Ling Luo³, Xiaoyan Tang², Jian Zeng², Guangdeng Chen², Xuesong Gao²

Affiliations

¹ College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: tlan@sicau.edu.cn.
² College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China.
³ College of Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, China.

PMID: 34793915
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118499

Abstract

Nitrogen management measures (NMMs) such as the application of urease inhibitors (UIs), synthetic nitrification inhibitors (SNIs), and biochar (BC) are commonly used in mitigating nitrogen (N) loss and increasing fertilizer recovery efficiency (FRE) in agriculture. Calcareous soil under rice cropping is characterized by high nitrification potential, N loss risk, and low FRE. Application of SNIs may stimulate NH₃ volatilization in high pH soils and the effects of SNIs on FRE are not always positive. BNIs have many advantages over SNIs. Whether combined application of BNI, UI, and BC that can result in a synergistic effect of improving FRE and decreasing N loss in a calcareous soil under rice cropping worth investigating. In this study, we conducted pot experiments to investigate the effects of single and co-application of BNI (methyl 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate or MHPP, 500 mg kg^-1 soil), UI (N-(n-butyl), thiophosphoric triamide or NBPT, 2% of urea-N), or BC (wheat straw, 0.5% (w/w)) with chemical fertilizer on NH₃ volatilization, N₂O emission, N leaching, crop N uptake, and FRE in a calcareous soil under rice cropping. Our results demonstrated that those NMMs could mitigate NH₃ volatilization by 12.5%-26.5%, N₂O emission by 62.7%-73.5%, and N leaching loss by 17.5%-49.0%. However, BNI might have a risk of increasing NH₃ (5.98%) volatilization loss. Among those NMMs, double inhibitors (BNI plus UI) yielded a synergistic effect that could mitigate N loss to the maximum extent and effectively improve FRE by 25.4%. The mechanisms of the above effects could be partly ascribed to the niche differentiation between the abundance of AOA and AOB and the changed community structure of AOB, which could further influence nitrification and N fate. Our results demonstrated that co-application of BNI and UI with urea is an effective strategy in reducing N loss and improving FRE in a calcareous soil under rice cropping.

Keywords: Ammonia-oxidizing archaea; Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria; N(2)O emission; Nitrification; Nitrogen balance; Nitrogen fate.

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Ammonia / analysis
Charcoal
Fertilizers / analysis
Nitrification*
Nitrogen
Oryza*
Soil
Urease
Volatilization

Substances

Fertilizers
Soil
biochar
Charcoal
Ammonia
Urease
Nitrogen