Nitrogen source forms govern ammonia assimilation and nitrogen retention through ammonium supply dynamics during...

Microbial ammonia assimilation is a critical pathway for nitrogen retention during composting, but regulatory mechanisms linking nitrogen form to assimilation efficiency remain unclear. Here, we investigated how inorganic and organic nitrogen sources modulate ammonium supply dynamics and influence ammonia assimilation pathways and nitrogen retention under controlled composting conditions with identical carbon and nitrogen inputs. Compared with inorganic nitrogen, amino acid addition produced a sustained and temporally coordinated ammonium supply, reducing cumulative ammonia emissions by 20.6%-67.1% and promoting the conversion of ammonium into stable organic nitrogen. This was associated with elevated activities of glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase, increased expression of key ammonia assimilation genes (glnA, gltB, and gdhA), and glutamate accumulation. Microbial community analysis further revealed that amino acid nitrogen reshaped bacterial composition and co-occurrence networks toward more interconnected structures, coinciding with enhanced assimilation potential. Path modeling indicated inorganic nitrogen indirectly affected assimilation via transient gene induction, whereas rapid ammonium availability lowered efficiency and destabilized community structure. In contrast, amino acid nitrogen directly promoted assimilation by synchronizing ammonium release with microbial metabolic capacity. This study identifies ammonium supply dynamics as a process-level regulator linking nitrogen form, microbial metabolism, and nitrogen retention, providing new insights into nitrogen retention and loss mitigation.