Compound driven differences in N2 and N2O emission from soil; the role of substrate use efficiency and the microbial community

Madeline E. Giles; Tim J. Daniell; Elizabeth M. Baggs

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.11.028

Compound driven differences in N₂ and N₂O emission from soil; the role of substrate use efficiency and the microbial community

Madeline E. Giles^* (Corresponding Author), Tim J. Daniell, Elizabeth M. Baggs

^*Corresponding author for this work

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

47 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Organic C is an important control on the process of denitrification, a process that can result in the production and reduction of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N₂O). This study identified the influence of different low molecular weight C (LMW-C) compounds on the production of nitrous oxide (N₂O) and dinitrogen (N₂) and the associated role of the size and structure of the microbial community. We examined this following application of glucose, glutamine or citric acid (250 mg C kg⁻¹ dry soil) and ¹⁵N-KNO₃ (100 mg N kg⁻¹ dry soil) to a sandy loam soil and measured the production of N₂ and N₂O by denitrifiers using ¹⁵N labeling techniques, changes in the bacterial community as measured by T-RFLP on 16SrDNA fragments and changes in the gene copy number of 16SrDNA, nirK, nirS and nosZ over 144 h. Addition of glucose, citric acid and glutamine all increased emissions of ¹⁵N-N₂ above that found in the control (P < 0.05) while the addition of glucose and glutamine resulted in higher emissions of ¹⁴⁺¹⁵N-N₂O (P < 0.001) than the addition of citric acid, resulting in a lower ¹⁵N-N₂O to ¹⁵N-N₂ ratio in the citric acid treatment. The 16SrDNA gene copy number increased after addition of citric acid and glutamine, whilst 16SrDNA showed significant shifts in community composition in all C treatments although over different time periods. The gene copy number of nosZ only significantly increased at 120 h in the glutamine treatment (P < 0.05) and nirS at 120 h in the citric acid and glutamine treatments (P < 0.05). This suggests that where C is added as a single input, differences in N₂ and N₂O emissions between LMW-C compounds were not caused by selection for denitrifiers but likely driven by differences in substrate use efficiency and subsequent differences in C partitioning between growth and respiration. The differing influence of the three selected C compounds on denitrification indicates the potential for lowering net N₂O emissions through regulation of C compound availability.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	90-98
Number of pages	9
Journal	Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Volume	106
Early online date	26 Dec 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.11.028
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2017

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
MG was funded by an open CASE doctoral training grant [NE/F013876/1] from the Natural Environment Research Council. The James Hutton Institute was partly funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. We thank Mrs Janet Woo for assistance with the isotope analyses. TJD is partly funded by the HEFCE N8 Agrifood programme.

Keywords

Carbon
Denitrification
nirK
nirS
Nitrous oxide
nosZ

Access to Document

10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.11.028Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

@article{71c2483d97624e5a9c3c4a1579429966,

title = "Compound driven differences in N2 and N2O emission from soil; the role of substrate use efficiency and the microbial community",

abstract = "Organic C is an important control on the process of denitrification, a process that can result in the production and reduction of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). This study identified the influence of different low molecular weight C (LMW-C) compounds on the production of nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2) and the associated role of the size and structure of the microbial community. We examined this following application of glucose, glutamine or citric acid (250 mg C kg−1 dry soil) and 15N-KNO3 (100 mg N kg−1 dry soil) to a sandy loam soil and measured the production of N2 and N2O by denitrifiers using 15N labeling techniques, changes in the bacterial community as measured by T-RFLP on 16SrDNA fragments and changes in the gene copy number of 16SrDNA, nirK, nirS and nosZ over 144 h. Addition of glucose, citric acid and glutamine all increased emissions of 15N-N2 above that found in the control (P < 0.05) while the addition of glucose and glutamine resulted in higher emissions of 14+15N-N2O (P < 0.001) than the addition of citric acid, resulting in a lower 15N-N2O to 15N-N2 ratio in the citric acid treatment. The 16SrDNA gene copy number increased after addition of citric acid and glutamine, whilst 16SrDNA showed significant shifts in community composition in all C treatments although over different time periods. The gene copy number of nosZ only significantly increased at 120 h in the glutamine treatment (P < 0.05) and nirS at 120 h in the citric acid and glutamine treatments (P < 0.05). This suggests that where C is added as a single input, differences in N2 and N2O emissions between LMW-C compounds were not caused by selection for denitrifiers but likely driven by differences in substrate use efficiency and subsequent differences in C partitioning between growth and respiration. The differing influence of the three selected C compounds on denitrification indicates the potential for lowering net N2O emissions through regulation of C compound availability.",

keywords = "Carbon, Denitrification, nirK, nirS, Nitrous oxide, nosZ",

author = "Giles, {Madeline E.} and Daniell, {Tim J.} and Baggs, {Elizabeth M.}",

note = "Acknowledgements MG was funded by an open CASE doctoral training grant [NE/F013876/1] from the Natural Environment Research Council. The James Hutton Institute was partly funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. We thank Mrs Janet Woo for assistance with the isotope analyses. TJD is partly funded by the HEFCE N8 Agrifood programme.",

year = "2017",

month = mar,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.11.028",

language = "English",

volume = "106",

pages = "90--98",

journal = "Soil Biology and Biochemistry",

issn = "0038-0717",

publisher = "Elsevier Limited",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Compound driven differences in N2 and N2O emission from soil; the role of substrate use efficiency and the microbial community

AU - Giles, Madeline E.

AU - Daniell, Tim J.

AU - Baggs, Elizabeth M.

N1 - Acknowledgements MG was funded by an open CASE doctoral training grant [NE/F013876/1] from the Natural Environment Research Council. The James Hutton Institute was partly funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. We thank Mrs Janet Woo for assistance with the isotope analyses. TJD is partly funded by the HEFCE N8 Agrifood programme.

PY - 2017/3/1

Y1 - 2017/3/1

N2 - Organic C is an important control on the process of denitrification, a process that can result in the production and reduction of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). This study identified the influence of different low molecular weight C (LMW-C) compounds on the production of nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2) and the associated role of the size and structure of the microbial community. We examined this following application of glucose, glutamine or citric acid (250 mg C kg−1 dry soil) and 15N-KNO3 (100 mg N kg−1 dry soil) to a sandy loam soil and measured the production of N2 and N2O by denitrifiers using 15N labeling techniques, changes in the bacterial community as measured by T-RFLP on 16SrDNA fragments and changes in the gene copy number of 16SrDNA, nirK, nirS and nosZ over 144 h. Addition of glucose, citric acid and glutamine all increased emissions of 15N-N2 above that found in the control (P < 0.05) while the addition of glucose and glutamine resulted in higher emissions of 14+15N-N2O (P < 0.001) than the addition of citric acid, resulting in a lower 15N-N2O to 15N-N2 ratio in the citric acid treatment. The 16SrDNA gene copy number increased after addition of citric acid and glutamine, whilst 16SrDNA showed significant shifts in community composition in all C treatments although over different time periods. The gene copy number of nosZ only significantly increased at 120 h in the glutamine treatment (P < 0.05) and nirS at 120 h in the citric acid and glutamine treatments (P < 0.05). This suggests that where C is added as a single input, differences in N2 and N2O emissions between LMW-C compounds were not caused by selection for denitrifiers but likely driven by differences in substrate use efficiency and subsequent differences in C partitioning between growth and respiration. The differing influence of the three selected C compounds on denitrification indicates the potential for lowering net N2O emissions through regulation of C compound availability.

AB - Organic C is an important control on the process of denitrification, a process that can result in the production and reduction of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). This study identified the influence of different low molecular weight C (LMW-C) compounds on the production of nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2) and the associated role of the size and structure of the microbial community. We examined this following application of glucose, glutamine or citric acid (250 mg C kg−1 dry soil) and 15N-KNO3 (100 mg N kg−1 dry soil) to a sandy loam soil and measured the production of N2 and N2O by denitrifiers using 15N labeling techniques, changes in the bacterial community as measured by T-RFLP on 16SrDNA fragments and changes in the gene copy number of 16SrDNA, nirK, nirS and nosZ over 144 h. Addition of glucose, citric acid and glutamine all increased emissions of 15N-N2 above that found in the control (P < 0.05) while the addition of glucose and glutamine resulted in higher emissions of 14+15N-N2O (P < 0.001) than the addition of citric acid, resulting in a lower 15N-N2O to 15N-N2 ratio in the citric acid treatment. The 16SrDNA gene copy number increased after addition of citric acid and glutamine, whilst 16SrDNA showed significant shifts in community composition in all C treatments although over different time periods. The gene copy number of nosZ only significantly increased at 120 h in the glutamine treatment (P < 0.05) and nirS at 120 h in the citric acid and glutamine treatments (P < 0.05). This suggests that where C is added as a single input, differences in N2 and N2O emissions between LMW-C compounds were not caused by selection for denitrifiers but likely driven by differences in substrate use efficiency and subsequent differences in C partitioning between growth and respiration. The differing influence of the three selected C compounds on denitrification indicates the potential for lowering net N2O emissions through regulation of C compound availability.

KW - Carbon

KW - Denitrification

KW - nirK

KW - nirS

KW - Nitrous oxide

KW - nosZ

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85007029675&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.11.028

DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.11.028

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85007029675

SN - 0038-0717

VL - 106

SP - 90

EP - 98

JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry

JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry

ER -