Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5): 199-207. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20196122

Special Issue: Soil fertilizer;

• Resources & Environment·Plant Protection • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer Reduction and Dicyandiamide on Acidification and Nitrification of Red Soil

LIU Hao1, SUN Mei2,3, SUN Geng1,2,3, WANG Hua1, ZHENG Yong2,3, LUO Zunzhang2,3, MA Jiacheng1, LONG Zedong2,3   

  1. 1 College of Environment and Ecology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410125, China
    2 Hunan Institute of Agricultural Soil and Eco-Environment, Changsha 410125, China
    3 Yuelushan Laboratory, Changsha 410125, China
  • Published:2026-10-28

Abstract:

To investigate the effects of nitrogen(N)reduction and the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide(DCD)on mitigating soil acidification in red soil regions of Southern China,a pakchoi pot experiment was conducted with four N management treatments:no fertilizer(NF),conventional fertilizer(CF),reduced N fertilizer(NFR),and conventional fertilizer plus DCD(CF+DCD).Soil physicochemical properties,nitrification potential(NP),and amoA gene abundances of ammonia-oxidizing archaea(AOA)and bacteria(AOB)were measured.The results showed that,compared with CF(pH 4.25;NH4+-N 97.6 mg/kg;NO3--N 46.6 mg/kg),NFR and DCD application significantly increased soil pH by 0.21 and 0.42,respectively,increased NH4+-N content by 13.0 and 27.5 mg/kg, and decreased NO3--N content by 22.8 and 44.9 mg/kg. Relative to CF(NP:20.68 mg/(kg·d)), NFR did not significantly alter NP,whereas CF+DCD significantly reduced NP by 20.3 mg/(kg·d).AOA and AOB amoA abundances differed significantly among treatments:compared with CF(AOA:1.33×105copies/g;AOB:34.55×105copies/g), NFR and DCD significantly increased AOA-amoA abundance by 125.56% and 353.08%, and significantly decreased AOB-amoA abundance by 25.64% and 97.83%,respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that AOA-amoA abundance was highly significantly negatively correlated with exchangeable H+and Al3+acidity and with apparent nitrification rate, and significantly positively correlated with soil pH. In contrast,AOB-amoA abundance exhibited highly significant positive correlations with nitrification potential, apparent nitrification rate,and NO3--N content,and a highly significant negative correlation with soil pH.In conclusion,NFR and DCD application alleviated soil acidification by increasing pH and reducing exchangeable acidity.This effect was primarily achieved through suppression of AOB abundance and nitrification activity,thereby reducing the potential environmental risk of nitrate accumulation.DCD exhibited superior performance,highlighting its application value for ameliorating soil acidification.

Key words: Red soil, Soil acidification, Nitrogen regulation, Nitrification inhibitor, Acidification mitigation

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Cite this article

LIU Hao, SUN Mei, SUN Geng, WANG Hua, ZHENG Yong, LUO Zunzhang, MA Jiacheng, LONG Zedong. Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer Reduction and Dicyandiamide on Acidification and Nitrification of Red Soil[J]. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica, 2026, 41(5): 199-207. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20196122.

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