Dataset Information

Effect of carbon-enriched digestate on the microbial soil activity.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

As a liquid organic fertilizer used in agriculture, digestate is rich in many nutrients (i.e. nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, potassium); their utilization may be however less efficient in soils poor in organic carbon (due to low carbon:nitrogen ratio). In order to solve the disadvantages, digestate enrichment with carbon-rich amendments biochar or humic acids (Humac) was tested.

Methods

Soil variants amended with enriched digestate: digestate + biochar, digestate + Humac, and digestate + combined biochar and humic acids-were compared to control with untreated digestate in their effect on total soil carbon and nitrogen, microbial biomass carbon, soil respiration and soil enzymatic activities in a pot experiment. Yield of the test crop lettuce was also determined for all variants.

Results

Soil respiration was the most significantly increased property, positively affected by digestate + Humac. Both digestate + biochar and digestate + Humac significantly increased microbial biomass carbon. Significant negative effect of digestate + biochar (compared to the control digestate) on particular enzyme activities was alleviated by the addition of humic acids. No significant differences among the tested variants were found in the above-ground and root plant biomass.

Conclusions

The tested organic supplements improved the digestate effect on some determined soil properties. We deduced from the results (carbon:nitrogen ratio, microbial biomass and activity) that the assimilation of nutrients by plants increased; however, the most desired positive effect on the yield of crop biomass was not demonstrated. We assume that the digestate enrichment with organic amendments may be more beneficial in a long time-scaled trial.

SUBMITTER: Holatko J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8253426 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Returning crop residues is a possible practice for balancing soil carbon (C) loss. The turnover rate of organic C from crop residues to soil C is dependent on soil microbial community dynamics. However, the relationship between any temporal changes in the soil microbial community after crop straw inputs and the dynamics of straw-C distribution in the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool remains unclear. The present study investigated the allocation of straw-C into soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MaOC) using stable isotope probing, as well as the temporal changes in the soil bacterial and fungal communities using high-throughput sequencing. After the first 180 days of straw decomposition, approximately 3.93% and 19.82% of straw-C was transformed into soil MaOC and POC, respectively, while 0.02% and 2.25% of straw-C was transformed into soil DOC and MBC, respectively. The temporal change of the soil microbial community was positively correlated with the dynamics of straw-C distribution to SOC (R > 0.5, P < 0.05). The copiotrophic bacteria (e.g., Streptomyces, Massilia and Sphingobacterium), cellulolytic bacteria and fungi (e.g., Dyella and Fusarium, Talaromyces), acidophilic bacteria (e.g., Edaphobacter and unclassified Acidobacteriaceae), denitrifying and N-fixing microbes (e.g., Burkholderia-Paraburkholderia, Paraphaeosphaeria and Bradyrhizobium), and fungi unclassified Sordariomycetes were significantly correlated with straw-C distribution to specific SOC fractions (P < 0.05), which explained more than 90% of the variation of straw-C allocation into soils. Copiotrophic, certain cellulolytic and denitrifying microbes had positively correlated with DOC- and MaOC-derived from straw, and other cellulolytic fungi (e.g., Talaromyces) and specific bacteria (e.g. Bradyrhizobium) were positively correlated with POC-derived from straw. Our results highlight that the temporal change of soil microbial community structure well reflects the conversion and distribution process of straw-C to SOC fractions.

Project description:Fire disturbances are becoming more common, more intense, and further-reaching across the globe, with consequences for ecosystem functioning. Importantly, fire can have strong effects on the soil microbiome, including community and functional changes after fire, but surprisingly little is known regarding the role of soil fire legacy in shaping responses to recent fire. To address this gap, we conducted a manipulative field experiment administering fire across 32 soils with varying fire legacies, including combinations of 1-7 historic fires and 1-33 years since most recent fire. We analyzed soil metatranscriptomes, determining for the first time how fire and fire legacy interactively affect metabolically-active soil taxa, the microbial regulation of important carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycling, expression of carbohydrate-cycling enzyme pathways, and functional gene co-expression networks. Experimental fire strongly downregulated fungal activity while upregulating many bacterial and archaeal phyla. Further, fire decreased soil capacity for microbial C and N cycling and P transport, and drastically rewired functional gene co-expression. Perhaps most importantly, we highlight a novel role of soil fire legacy in regulation of microbial C, N, and P responses to recent fire. We observed a greater number of functional genes responsive to the interactive effects of fire and fire legacy than those affected solely by recent fire, indicating that many functional genes respond to fire only under certain fire legacy contexts. Therefore, without incorporating fire legacy of soils, studies will miss important ways that fire shapes microbial roles in ecosystem functioning. Finally, we showed that fire caused significant downregulation of carbon metabolism and nutrient cycling genes in microbiomes under abnormal soil fire histories, producing a novel warning for the future: human manipulation of fire legacies, either indirectly through global change-induced fire intensification or directly through fire suppression, can negatively impact soil microbiome functional responses to new fires.

Project description:Soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) is important in regulating soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics along soil profiles by mediating the decomposition and formation of SOC. The dataset (VDMBC) is about the vertical distributions of SOC, SMBC, and soil microbial quotient (SMQ?=?SMBC/SOC) and their relations to environmental factors across five continents. Data were collected from literature, with a total of 289 soil profiles and 1040 observations in different soil layers compiled. The associated environment data collectd include climate, ecosystem types, and edaphic factors. We developed this dataset by searching the Web of Sciene and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure from the year of 1970 to 2019. All the data in this dataset met two creteria: 1) there were at least three mineral soil layers along a soil profile, and 2) SMBC was measured using the fumigation extraction method. The data in tables and texts were obtained from literature directly, and the data in figures were extracted by using the GetData Graph digitizer software version 2.25. When climate and soil properties were not available from publications, we obtainted the data from the World Weather Information Service (https://worldweather.wmo.int/en/home.html) and SoilGrids at a spatial resolution of 250 meters (version 0.5.3, https://soilgrids.org). The units of all the variables were converted to the standard international units or commonly used ones and the values were transformed correspondingly. For example, the value of soil organic matter (SOM) was converted to SOC by using the equation (SOC?=?SOM?×?0.58). This dataset can be used in predicting global SOC changes along soil profiles by using the multi-layer soil carbon models. It can also be used to analyse how soil microbial biomass changes with plant roots as well as the composition, structure, and functions of soil microbial communities along soil profiles at large spatial scales. This dataset offers opportunities to improve our prediction of SOC dynamics under global changes and to advance our understanding of the environmental controls.