The influence of season, agricultural management, and soil properties on gross nitrogen transformations and bacterial community structure
W. R. Cookson A E , P. Marschner B , I. M. Clark C , N. Milton A , M. N. Smirk A , D. V. Murphy A , M. Osman A , E. A. Stockdale D and P. R. Hirsch CA School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
B Soil and Land Systems, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, DP 637 636, The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, SA 5005, Australia.
C Plant Pathogen Interactions Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
D Agriculture and the Environment Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
E Corresponding author. Email: wcookson@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Australian Journal of Soil Research 44(4) 453-465 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR05042
Submitted: 30 March 2005 Accepted: 18 January 2006 Published: 27 June 2006
Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of season, farm management (organic, biodynamic, integrated, and conventional), and soil chemical, physical, and biological properties on gross nitrogen (N) fluxes and bacterial community structure in the semi-arid region of Western Australia. Moisture availability was the dominant factor mediating microbial activity and carbon (C) and N cycling under this climate. In general, microbial biomass N, dissolved organic N, and potentially mineralisable N were greater in organic and biodynamic than integrated and conventional soil. Our results indicate that greater silt and clay content in organic and biodynamic soil may also partly explain these differences in soil N pools, rather than management alone. Although plant-available N (NH4+ + NO3–) was greater in conventional soil, this was largely the result of higher NO3– production. Multiple linear modelling indicated that soil temperature, moisture, soil textural classes, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and C and N pools were important in predicting gross N fluxes. Redundancy analysis revealed that bacterial community structure, assessed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rDNA, was correlated with C and N pools and fluxes, confirming links between bacterial structure and function. Bacterial community structure was also correlated with soil textural classes and soil temperature but not soil moisture. These results indicate that across this semi-arid landscape, soil bacterial communities are relatively resistant to water stress.
Additional keywords: Western Australia, dryland agriculture, 15N pool dilution, DGGE.
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted with the support of the New Zealand Foundation of Science and Technology, Australian Research Council, Grains Research and Development Corporation, The University of Western Australia, Rothamsted Research and United Kingdom Biotechnology, and Biological Sciences Research Council. The authors wish to thank Matt Braimbridge for sample collection, Steven McCoy for farm selection, and Chunya Zhu and Ian Fillery for support with 15N analysis.
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