DMPP mitigates N2O and NO productions by inhibiting ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in an intensified vegetable field under different temperature and moisture regimes

Abstract

Vegetable soils with high nitrogen input are major sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO), and incorporation of the nitrification inhibitor 3, 4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) into soils has been documented to effectively reduce emissions. However, the efficiency of DMPP in terms of soil N2O and NO mitigations varies greatly depending on soil temperature and moisture levels. Thus, further evaluations of DMPP efficiency in diverse environments are required to encourage widespread application. A laboratory incubation study (28 d) was established to investigate the interactive effects of DMPP, temperature (15, 25, and 35 °C), and soil moisture (55% and 80% of water-holding capacity (WHC)) on net nitrification rate, N2O and NO productions, and gene abundances of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in an intensive vegetable soil. Results showed that incubating soil with 1% DMPP led to partial inhibition of the net nitrification rate and N2O and NO productions, and the reduction percentage of N2O production was higher than that of NO production (69.3% vs. 38.2%) regardless of temperature and soil moisture conditions. The increased temperatures promoted the net nitrification rate but decreased soil N2O and NO productions. Soil moisture influenced NO production more than N2O production, decreasing with the increased moisture level (80%). The inhibitory effect of DMPP on cumulative N2O and NO productions decreased with increased temperatures at 55% WHC. Conversely, the inhibitory effect of DMPP on cumulative N2O production increased with increased temperatures at 80% WHC. Based on the correlation analyses and automatic linear modeling, the mitigation of both N2O and NO productions from the soil induced by DMPP was attributed to the decreases in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) amoA gene abundance and NO2--N concentration. Overall, our study indicated that DMPP reduced both N2O and NO productions by regulating the associated AOB amoA gene abundance and NO2--N concentration. These findings improve our insights regarding the implications of DMPP for N2O and NO mitigations in vegetable soils under various climate scenarios.