Nitrification potential in the rhizosphere of Australian native vegetation
Saikat Chowdhury A , Ramya Thangarajan B , Nanthi Bolan B C F , Julianne O’Reilly-Wapstra D , Anitha Kunhikrishnan E and Ravi Naidu B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A SAFE Research Centre, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hannam University, Daejeon 34430, Republic of Korea.
B Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE), University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia.
C Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
D School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.
E Chemical Safety Division, Department of Agro-Food Safety, National Academy of Agricultural Science, Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do 55365, Republic of Korea.
F Corresponding author. Email: Nanthi.Bolan@newcastle.edu.au
Soil Research 55(1) 58-69 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR16116
Submitted: 2 May 2016 Accepted: 10 August 2016 Published: 10 October 2016
Abstract
The rhizosphere influences nutrient dynamics in soil mainly by altering microbial activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the rhizosphere effect on nitrogen transformation in Australian native vegetation in relation to nitrification potential (NP). Microbial activity, NP, and nitrifiers (ammonia-oxidising bacteria, AOB) were compared between rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils of several Australian native vegetation under field conditions. These parameters were also measured with increasing distance from the rhizosphere of selected plant species using plant growth experiments. To examine the persistence of nitrification inhibitory activity of rhizosphere soil on non-rhizosphere soil, the soils were mixed at various ratios and examined for NP and AOB populations. The rhizosphere soil from all native vegetation (29 species) had higher microbial activity than non-rhizosphere soil, whereas 13 species showed very low NP in the rhizosphere when compared with non-rhizosphere soil. Nitrification potential and AOB populations obtained in the soil mixture were lower than the predicted values, indicating the persistence of a nitrification inhibitory effect of the rhizosphere soils on non-rhizosphere soils. In plant growth experiments the microbial activity decreased with increasing distance from rhizosphere, whereas the opposite was observed for NP and AOB populations, indicating the selective inhibition of nitrification process in the rhizosphere of the Australian native plants Scaevola albida, Chrysocephalum semipapposum, and Enteropogon acicularis. Some Australian native plants inhibited nitrification in their rhizosphere. We propose future studies on these selected plant species by identifying and characterising the nitrification inhibiting compounds and also the potential of nitrification inhibition in reducing nitrogen losses through nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emission.
Additional keywords: inhibition, native vegetation, nitrate, nitrification, nitrogen, rhizosphere.
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