Alteration of soil-surface electrochemical properties by organic fertilization to reduce dissolved inorganic nitrogen leaching in paddy fields

Abstract

Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) adsorbed onto soil colloids plays an important role in soil N leaching, but previous studies have not clearly defined the mechanisms of this process in paddy soils under organic fertilization. In this study, we investigated how ongoing fertilization can change soil DIN leaching via affects on soil-surface electrochemical properties and physical properties, and the main influences of soil properties on DIN leaching were characterized. Five fertilization regimes applied during a 5-year field experiment were employed to study this mechanism, i.e., no fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, chemical fertilizer plus hog manure, hog manure, and chemical fertilizer plus oil cake. Increasing levels of applied manure decreased DIN leaching from the soil profile, especially for NH4+, the main form of DIN in the leachate and soil. Compared to chemical fertilizer, organic fertilization changed the surface electrochemical and physical properties more effectively with regards to decreased soil bulk density (9.84–20.49 %, P < 0.05) and specific surface area (26.38–44.88 %, P < 0.05), as well as enhanced water-holding capacity (19.05–42.86 %, P < 0.05) and the number and density of soil-surface charges (7.97.55–98.44 %, P < 0.05). Furthermore, organic fertilization significantly increased the NH4+ adsorbed by soil. Structural equation modeling showed that soil-surface electrochemical properties had the greatest impact (β = –0.88, P < 0.05) on the NH4+ content of the leachate when compared with the soil NH4+ adsorption capacity and physical properties. The increase in the soil-surface charge, surface charge density, surface potential, and surface electric field strength under organic fertilization increased soil NH4+ retention in soil (P < 0.001), and thus, these changes decreased the risk of NH4+ leaching. Our results suggest that continuous substantial organic fertilization may mainly decrease early DIN leaching from cultivated paddy soils in the Dongting Lake area by altering soil-surface electrochemical properties, where soil-surface electrochemical properties can be set as an internal factor to predict soil ion migration in agriculture systems, such as the Dongting Lake area or other similar regions.