Abstract
Diazotrophic bacteria potentially supply substantial amounts of biologically fixed nitrogen to crops, but their occurrence may be suppressed by high nitrogen fertilizer application. Here, we explored the impact of high nitrogen fertilizer rates on the presence of diazotrophs in field-grown sugarcane with industry-standard or reduced nitrogen fertilizer application. Despite large differences in soil microbial communities between test sites, a core sugarcane root microbiome was identified. The sugarcane root-enriched core taxa overlap with those of Arabidopsis thaliana raising the possibility that certain bacterial families have had long association with plants. Reduced nitrogen fertilizer application had remarkably little effect on the core root microbiome and did not increase the relative abundance of root-associated diazotrophs or nif gene counts. Correspondingly, low nitrogen fertilizer crops had lower biomass and nitrogen content, reflecting a lack of major input of biologically fixed nitrogen, indicating that manipulating nitrogen fertilizer rates does not improve sugarcane yields by enriching diazotrophic populations under the test conditions. Standard nitrogen fertilizer crops had improved biomass and nitrogen content, and corresponding soils had higher abundances of nitrification and denitrification genes. These findings highlight that achieving a balance in maximizing crop yields and minimizing nutrient pollution associated with nitrogen fertilizer application requires understanding of how microbial communities respond to fertilizer use.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
A core sugarcane root microbiome was identified despite soil community differences between sites.
Verbatim
e0“Despite large differences in soil microbial communities between test sites, a core sugarcane root microbiome was identified.”
Claim · model-written summary
Sugarcane root-enriched core taxa overlapped those of Arabidopsis thaliana.
Verbatim
e0“The sugarcane root-enriched core taxa overlap with those of Arabidopsis thaliana”
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced nitrogen application had little effect on the core root microbiome.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- Reduced nitrogen fertilizer applicatione0
- Outcome
- core root microbiomee0
- Direction
- remarkably little effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Reduced nitrogen fertilizer application had remarkably little effect on the core root microbiome”
t0“sugarcanes”
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced nitrogen application did not increase root-associated diazotroph relative abundance.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- Reduced nitrogen fertilizer applicatione1
- Outcome
- relative abundance of root-associated diazotrophse0
- Direction
- did not increasee0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“did not increase the relative abundance of root-associated diazotrophs”
t0“sugarcanes”
e1“Reduced nitrogen fertilizer application”
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced nitrogen application did not increase nif gene counts.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- Reduced nitrogen fertilizer applicatione1
- Outcome
- nif gene countse0
- Direction
- did not increasee0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“did not increase the relative abundance of root-associated diazotrophs or nif gene counts.”
t0“sugarcanes”
e1“Reduced nitrogen fertilizer application”
Claim · model-written summary
Low nitrogen fertilizer crops had lower biomass and nitrogen content.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- low nitrogen fertilizere0
- Outcome
- biomass and nitrogen contente0
- Direction
- lowere0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“low nitrogen fertilizer crops had lower biomass and nitrogen content”
t0“sugarcanes”
Claim · model-written summary
Standard nitrogen fertilizer crops had improved biomass and nitrogen content.
- Taxon
- sugarcanet0
- Treatment
- Standard nitrogen fertilizere0
- Outcome
- biomass and nitrogen contente0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Standard nitrogen fertilizer crops had improved biomass and nitrogen content”
t0“sugarcanes”
Claim · model-written summary
Soils of standard nitrogen crops had higher abundances of nitrification and denitrification genes.
Verbatim
e0“corresponding soils had higher abundances of nitrification and denitrification genes.”
t0“sugarcanes”
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