Response of Soil Nitrogen-Cycling Genes to the Coupling Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation and Biochar Application in Maize Rhizosphere

Lingbo Meng, Zeyu Cheng and Shumin Li ()
Additional contact information
Lingbo Meng: School of Geography and Tourism, Harbin University, Harbin 150086, China
Zeyu Cheng: Resource and Environmental College, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Shumin Li: Resource and Environmental College, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Nitrogen (N) is the primary element that limits crop growth, and improving the nitrogen uptake in crops is a key challenge in sustainable agricultural production. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), as important symbiotic microbes associated with most plants, can facilitate nitrogen uptake by plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, meaning they can play an important role in the development of sustainable agriculture. However, the effects of biochar application on mediating AMF N absorption are not clear, especially regarding the functional genes related to the N cycle in soil. In this study, we conducted a pot experiment with two P application rates (−P and +P) to study the effects of biochar and AMF on the community of soil microorganisms and N-cycle genes using metagenomic methods. The N uptake of both the shoots and roots of maize was measured. It was observed that the N uptake in the maize shoots and roots was significantly increased when they were exposed to a combination of AMF and biochar. Under both the −P and +P application rates, the root weights of the AMF and biochar combined (AMBC) treatments increased significantly by 58.3% and 43.2%, respectively, compared with the control (CN) treatments. Furthermore, there were significant increases in the root lengths, of 78.43% and 53.09%, respectively, as well as increases in the superficial areas of 60.0% and 41.9%, respectively. The combination treatment significantly changed the soil microbe community structure and increased the abundances of Geobacter and Pseudomonas. In addition, the abundances of the N-cycle genes of each process were enhanced. Under the −P condition, the total abundances of the N-cycle genes increased significantly by 1.97–2.19 times in the AMBC treatment compared with the CN treatment. Overall, the results suggest that biochar and AMF can promote plant root growth and lead to changes in the soil microorganism structure, resulting in an increase in the abundances of N-cycle genes which, in turn, increase the N uptake in the shoots and roots of maize. This study provides a biological pathway to improve the efficiency of N utilization in soil and prevent environmental pollution in sustainable agricultural production.

Keywords: biochar; AMF; maize; N-cycle microbes; sustainable agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3349/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3349/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3349-:d:1377026

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().