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Updated: Feb 12, 2026

Exploring the Root Microbiome: Extracting Bacterial Community Data from the Soil, Rhizosphere, and Root Endosphere
Published on: May 2, 2018
Increasing atmospheric deposition nitrogen and ammonium reduced microbial activity and changed the bacterial
Fengwu Zhou1, Jian Cui2, Jing Zhou3
1College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Centre of Atmospheric Environment Research, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China.
Abstract:
Atmospheric deposition nitrogen (ADN) increases the N content in soil and subsequently impacts microbial activity of soil. However, the effects of ADN on paddy soil microbial activity have not been well characterized. In this study, we studied how red paddy soil microbial activity responses to different contents of ADN through a 10-months ADN simulation on well managed pot experiments. Results showed that all tested contents of ADN fluxes (27, 55, and 82kgNha-1 when its ratio of NH4+/NO3--N (RN) was 2:1) enhanced the soil enzyme activity and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and 27kgNha-1 ADN had maximum effects while comparing with the fertilizer treatment. Generally, increasing of both ADN flux and RN (1:2, 1:1 and 2:1 with the ADN flux of 55kgNha-1) had similar reduced effects on microbial activity. Furthermore, both ADN flux and RN significantly reduced soil bacterial alpha diversity (p<0.05) and altered bacterial community structure (e.g., the relative abundances of genera Dyella and Rhodoblastus affiliated to Proteobacteria increased). Redundancy analysis demonstrated that ADN flux and RN were the main drivers in shaping paddy soil bacteria community. Overall, the results have indicated that increasing ADN flux and ammonium reduced soil microbial activity and changed the soil bacterial community. The finding highlights how paddy soil microbial community response to ADN and provides information for N management in paddy soil.
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