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Nitrogen fertilization increases fungal diversity and abundance of saprotrophs while reducing nitrogen fixation potential in a semiarid grassland

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Abstract

Aims

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is applied to the soil to increase the nutrient level and plant productivity, but the effects of N addition on the soil microbial community diversity and functions are unclear. This study aimed to determine how changes in soil N influence soil microbial community diversity and potential functions.

Methods

We evaluated plant characteristics, soil chemical properties, microbial composition, and potential functions (N-fixation and functional fungal guild) after 3 years of urea fertilization at four different levels (0, 25, 50, and 100 kg N ha−1 year−1) in a semiarid grassland in China. Compositions of bacterial and fungal communities were determined by high-throughput sequencing, and their potential functions were predicted by comparing their data with those in the Tax4Fun and FUNGuild databases, respectively.

Results

Compared with the grassland without N input (N0), N fertilization significantly reduced soil bacterial diversity, possibly by reducing plant diversity. Fungal diversity increased with N fertilization and peaked in the N50 treatment, while the aboveground biomass showed a parallel increase and peak. A lower abundance of nif genes was found in the N100 than in the N0 treatment because the enhanced NO3− and NH4+ content alleviated the dependence of plants on biological N-fixation and reduced the N-fixation potential. N fertilization increased the relative abundance of saprotrophs (wood, plant, and dung saprotrophs) and pathogens (plant and animal pathogens). However, this promotion could be weakened when the excessive N fertilization was applied due to the lower abundance in the N100 than in the N50 treatment, and these changes could be attributed to the variation in aboveground biomass and soil organic C. Changes in the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were related to their host plants, exhibiting a transient increase in the N25 compared to the N0 treatment and then sharply decreasing.

Conclusions

Our results show that N-induced environmental changes have considerable influence on the composition and potential functions of soil bacterial and fungal communities, which are likely to be dependent on interactions between plants and soil.

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Data availability

Data available from Figshare: https://figshare.com/s/d1aa64da5f20b6cc1afa

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the “Light of the West” Cross Team Key Laboratory Cooperative Research Project of Chinese Academy of Science; Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province (2019KJXX-081; 2021JM-605); the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (41771554, 51609237, 41807521); and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0501707).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Lirong Liao, Guobin Liu & Chao Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Lirong Liao

  3. Department of Animal Sciences, Xizang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Linzhi, 860000, People’s Republic of China

    Xiangtao Wang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming On the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Wang, Guobin Liu & Chao Zhang

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  1. Lirong Liao
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  2. Xiangtao Wang
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  3. Jie Wang
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  4. Guobin Liu
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  5. Chao Zhang
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Correspondence to Chao Zhang.

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Liao, L., Wang, X., Wang, J. et al. Nitrogen fertilization increases fungal diversity and abundance of saprotrophs while reducing nitrogen fixation potential in a semiarid grassland. Plant Soil 465, 515–532 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05012-w

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