Combined Application of Organic and Inorganic Nitrogen Fertilizers Affects Soil Prokaryotic Communities Compositions

Abstract

As a fundamental part of the soil ecosystem, prokaryotes are involved in the preservation of soil functions. However, little is known of how the combined application of long-term organic and inorganic nitrogen fertilizer affects the prokaryotic communities’ dynamics at a paddy field. A long-term positioning experiment initiated in 2013 with four treatments (NO: no N fertilizer, CN: 100% urea N with no organic fertilizer, PM: 80% urea N plus 20% N with pig manure, CM: 80% urea N plus 20% N with compost) were applied to detect the differential responses of soil physicochemical properties, and prokaryotic community structure and composition in different fertilization regimes. The results indicated that the long-term combined application of organic and inorganic nitrogen fertilizers altered the physicochemical properties to some extent and, simultaneously, established unique prokaryotic communities. In detail, the treatment of PM and CM significantly increased the content of soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) compared to NO. Moreover, a total of 31 indicator taxa were screened across the four treatments by LDA Effect Size (LEfSe) analysis following the principle of the greatest differences, which suggests that these indicator taxa were more sensitive to the fertilization. This research suggested that the combined application of long-term organic and inorganic nitrogen fertilizers not only contributed to the soil’s physicochemical properties but also changed the prokaryotic community composition.