Linking nitrous oxide emissions and soil urease kinetics with uratolytic microbial communities: effects of nano zero-valent iron and dicyandiamide
摘要
Urease, encoded by the ureC gene, catalyzes urea hydrolysis and influences soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emission. Nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) might have non-target effects on soil urease kinetics and ureC-harboring microbial communities, potentially reducing the soil N2O emissions. Nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) enhances nitrogen (N) fertilizer efficiency and also affect soil urease kinetics. A field study was conducted to investigate the combined effects of nZVI and DCD on soil N2O emissions, urease kinetics, ureC-harboring microbial communities and chemical properties. At the end of the experiment, nZVI reduced the half-saturation constant (Km) and maximum reaction rate (Vmax) of the soil urease by 46.28% and 56.00%, respectively. The DCD increased the diversity of the soil ureC-harboring microbial community. Combined nZVI and DCD reduced soil N₂O emissions but negatively affected the diversity and stability of the ureC-harboring microbial community. Urease Vmax was positively correlated with the nodes (r = 0.82) and edges (r = 0.85) of the ureC-harboring microbial co-occurrence networks. This study indicated that the use of nZVI was associated with lower Km and Vmax of soil urease, which coincided with decreases in soil pH and carbon and N availabilities. Furthermore, the extra DCD presence might strengthen the effect of nZVI on N2O mitigation and the toxicity of nZVI to soil urease kinetics and ureC-harboring communities.