Effect of different land use and land use change on ammonia oxidiser abundance and N2O emissions

Published Date

May 2016, Vol.96:169–175, doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.02.005

Title 

Effect of different land use and land use change on ammonia oxidiser abundance and N₂O emissions

• Author 

• Chaoyu Li ^a,b
• Hong J. Di ^a,,
• Keith C. Cameron ^a
• Andriy Podolyan ^a
• Baocheng Zhu ^b,,

• aCentre for Soil and Environmental Research, Lincoln University, Lincoln, 7647, Christchurch, New Zealand
• bCollege of Life Sciences, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, 071001, People's Republic of China

Received 8 September 2015. Revised 10 February 2016. Accepted 11 February 2016. Available online 23 February 2016.

Highlights

• •
  Land use type and change had a major impact on ammonia oxidising bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA).
• •
  AOB abundance was higher in dairy and sheep farm soils than in a pine plantation soil.
• •
  AOA was higher in the sheep farm soil than in the dairy and pine plantation soils.
• •
  Unexpectedly, AOA in the sheep farm soil grew in response to dairy cow urine application.
• •
  N₂O emissions from the pine tree soil were the highest following urine application.

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a major expansion of dairy farming in New Zealand, largely as a result of land use change from forestry and sheep farming to dairy farming. Possible impacts of different land uses and land use change on ammonia oxidising bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) and N₂O emissions are not well understood. A field study was carried out to determine the effects on AOB and AOA abundance by three long-term different land uses, pine tree plantation (30+ years), sheep farming (30+ years) and dairy farming (12+ years), located in close proximity on the same soil type. A laboratory incubation study was carried out to determine the impact of dairy cow urine application (simulating the deposition of dairy cattle urine after the conversion of tree plantation and sheep farming to dairy farming) on AOB and AOA growth and N₂O emissions. The results showed that AOB abundance was higher in the dairy and sheep farm soils (P < 0.05) than in the pine tree soil but that the AOA abundance was higher in the sheep farm soil than in the dairy and pine tree soils (P < 0.05). When dairy cow urine was applied in the incubation study, the AOB growth was initially faster in the dairy, followed by sheep and then followed by the pine tree soil, but the growth continued for an extended period in the pine tree soil with the amoA gene copy numbers eventually exceeding those in the sheep and dairy pasture soils. AOA grew following urine application in the sheep soil but did not change in the other soils. Total N₂O emissions in the pine tree soil was more than twice those from the dairy and sheep farm soils. These results demonstrate the significant impact of land use and land use change on ammonia oxidiser communities and subsequent impacts on nitrogen transformations and N₂O emissions. Further research is needed to verify these results in the field.

Keywords

• Land use change
• Ammonia oxidising bacteria
• Ammonia oxidising archaea
• Nitrous oxide emissions

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• ∗ 
  Corresponding author.

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Soil suppressiveness and its relations with the microbial community in a Brazilian subtropical agroecosystem under different management systems

Published Date

May 2016, Vol.96:191–197, doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.02.010

Title 

Soil suppressiveness and its relations with the microbial community in a Brazilian subtropical agroecosystem under different management systems

• Author 

• Samanta B. Campos ^a
• Bruno B. Lisboa ^b
• Flavio A.O. Camargo ^c
• Cimelio Bayer ^c
• Alexander Sczyrba ^d
• Paul Dirksen ^d
• Andreas Albersmeier ^e
• Jörn Kalinowski ^e
• Anelise Beneduzi ^b
• Pedro B. Costa ^f
• Luciane Maria P. Passaglia ^f
• Luciano K. Vargas ^b,,
• Volker F. Wendisch ^a,,

• aGenetics of Prokaryotes, Faculty of Biology & Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
• bState Foundation for Research in Agriculture (Fundação Estadual de Pesquisa Agropecuária – FEPAGRO), Rua Gonçalves Dias, 570, CEP 90130-060, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
• cFederal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Faculty of Agronomy, Department of Soil Science, Av. Bento Gonçalves 7712, CEP 91540-000, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
• dComputational Metagenomics, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Bielefeld University, Sequenz 1, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
• eTechnology Platform Genomics, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Bielefeld University, Sequenz 1, 33615, Bielefeld, Germany
• fFederal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Institute of Biosciences, Department of Genetics, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Caixa Postal 15.053, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Received 22 August 2015. Revised 29 September 2015. Accepted 20 February 2016. Available online 3 March 2016.

Highlights

• •
  We evaluated how crop and tillage systems affect soil suppressiveness.
• •
  We related soil suppressiveness with microbial and biochemical indicators of soil quality.
• •
  No-tillage and high-input crop systems increase soil suppressiveness.
• •
  Increasing microbial biomass and activity increases soil suppressiveness.
• •
  Specific bacterial genera are related to soil suppressiveness.

Abstract

The ability of soils to detain the onset of a disease in a susceptible host is called soil suppressiveness. Soil suppressiveness can often be attributed to the activity of soil microorganisms. Considering that soil management can drastically affect microbial soil communities, the objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of different crop systems and tillage practices on the suppression of wheat head blight, caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium graminearum, assessing the relationships between soil suppressiveness and microbial activity and diversity. Samples were taken from a long-term (30 years) experimental set-up in a Paleudult soil under conventional tillage or no-tillage management and three cropping systems: oat (Avena strigosa)/maize (Zea mays); vetch (Vicia sativa)/maize; and black oat + vetch/maize + cowpea (Vigna sinensis). The soil-borne fungus F. graminearum, the causal agent of wheat head blight, was used as model pathogen and wheat (Triticum aestivum) as model host plant. No-tillage soil samples showed the highest level of F. graminearum suppression by significantly reducing plant disease intensity. Of the cropping systems tested, the vetch + black oat/maize + cowpea system showed the highest suppressiveness and the oat/maize system showed the lowest. Microbial biomass, respiratory activity and the activity of the chitin degrading enzyme β-glucosaminidase followed the same trend, being associated to soil organic matter. Chitinophagaceae, Acidobacteriaceae, Xanthomonadaceae and Burkholderiaceae were associated to soil suppressiveness.

Keywords

• Soil suppressiveness
• Soil management
• Microbial activity
• Microbial biomass
• Bacterial diversity

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• ∗ 
  Corresponding author. FEPAGRO, Rua Gonçalves Dias, 570, CEP 90130-060, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
• ∗∗ 
  Corresponding author.
  
  

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Linkages between extracellular enzyme activities and the carbon and nitrogen content of grassland soils

Published Date

May 2016, Vol.96:198–206, doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.02.015

Title 

Linkages between extracellular enzyme activities and the carbon and nitrogen content of grassland soils

• Author 

• Valeria L. Cenini ^a
• Dario A. Fornara ^b,,
• Geoffrey McMullan ^c
• Nigel Ternan ^c
• Rachael Carolan^b
• Michael J. Crawley ^d
• Jean-Christophe Clément ^e
• Sandra Lavorel ^e

• aEnvironmental Sciences Research Institute, Ulster University, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK
• bAgri-Food & Biosciences Institute, BT9 5PX Belfast, UK
• cSchool of Biomedical Sciences, Ulster University, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK
• dDepartment of Life Sciences, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
• eLaboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Grenoble Alpes BP53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Received 27 October 2015. Revised 16 February 2016. Accepted 19 February 2016. Available online 3 March 2016.

Highlights

• •
  Positive link between extracellular enzyme activities and soil C and N content.
• •
  Evidence of how grassland management may affect enzyme activity.
• •
  Enzyme activity may not be simply a reflection of SOM concentration.
• •
  Changes in enzyme activity could influence soil C and N in managed grasslands.

Abstract

Important biochemical reactions in soils are catalyzed by extracellular enzymes, which are synthesized by microbes and plant roots. Although enzyme activities can significantly affect the decomposition of soil organic matter and thus influence the storage and cycling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), it is not clear how enzyme activities relate to changes in the C and N content of different grassland soils. Here we address whether the activity of C-acquiring (β-1,4-glucosidase, BG) and N-acquiring (l-leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) and β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (NAG)) enzymes is linked to changes in the C and N content of a variety of human-managed grassland soils. We selected soils which have a well-documented management history going back at least 19 years in relation to changes in land use (grazing, mowing, ploughing), nutrient fertilization and lime (CaCO₃) applications. Overall we found a positive relationship between BG activity and soil C content as well as between LAP + NAG activity and soil N. These positive relationships occurred across grasslands with very different soil pH and management history but not in intensively managed grasslands where increases in soil bulk density (i.e. high soil compaction) negatively affected enzyme activity. We also found evidence that chronic nutrient fertilization contributed to increases in soil C content and this was associated with a significant increase in BG activity when compared to unfertilized soils. Our study suggests that while the activities of C- and N-acquiring soil enzymes are positively related to soil C and N content, these activities respond significantly to changes in management (i.e. soil compaction and nutrient fertilization). In particular, the link between BG activity and the C content of long-term fertilized soils deserves further investigation if we wish to improve our understanding of the C sequestration potential of human-managed grassland soils.

Keywords

• Land use
• Nutrient fertilization
• Lime
• pH
• β-1,4-Glucosidase
• Extracellular enzymes

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• ∗ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 (0)28 90255335.

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