Arsenic immobilization and greenhouse gas emission depend on quantity and frequency of nitrogen fertilization in paddy soil

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) fertilization in paddy soils decreases arsenic mobility and methane emissions. However, it is unknown how quantity and frequency of N fertilization affects the interlinked redox reactions of iron(II)-driven denitrification, iron mineral (trans-)formation with subsequent arsenic (im-)mobilization, methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and how this links to microbiome composition. Thus, we incubated paddy soil from Vercelli, Italy, over 129 days and applied nitrate fertilizer at different concentrations (control: 0, low: ∼35, medium: ∼100, high: ∼200 mg N kg−1 soil−1) once at the beginning and after 49 days. In the high N treatment, nitrate reduction was coupled to oxidation of dissolved and solid-phase iron(II), while naturally occurring arsenic was retained on iron minerals due to suppression of reductive iron(III) mineral dissolution. In the low N treatment, 40 μg L−1 of arsenic was mobilized into solution after nitrate depletion, with 69 % being immobilized after a second nitrate application. In the non-fertilized control, concentrations of dissolved arsenic were as high as 76 μg L−1, driven by mobilization of 36 % of the initial mineral-bound arsenic. Generally, N fertilization led to 1.5-fold higher total GHG emissions (sum of CO2, CH4 and N2O as CO2 equivalents), 158-fold higher N2O, and 7.5-fold lower CH4 emissions compared to non-fertilization. On day 37, Gallionellaceae, Comamonadaceae and Rhodospirillales were more abundant in the high N treatment compared to the non-fertilized control, indicating their potential role as key players in nitrate reduction coupled to iron(II) oxidation. The findings underscore the dual effect of N fertilization, immobilizing arsenic in the short-term (low/medium N) or long-term (high N), while simultaneously increasing N2O and lowering CH4 emissions. This highlights the significance of both the quantity and frequency of N fertilizer application in paddy soils.