Urea Amendment Decreases Microbial Diversity and Selects for Specific Nitrifying Strains in Eight Contrasting Agricultural Soils.

ABSTRACT: Application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers, predominantly as urea, is a major source of reactive N in the environment, with wide ranging effects including increased greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere and aquatic eutrophication. The soil microbial community is the principal driver of soil N cycling; thus, improved understanding of microbial community responses to urea addition has widespread implications. We used next-generation amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to characterize bacterial and archaeal communities in eight contrasting agricultural soil types amended with 0, 100, or 500 μg N g^-1 of urea and incubated for 21 days. We hypothesized that urea amendment would have common, direct effects on the abundance and diversity of members of the microbial community a

SUBMITTER: Staley C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5893814 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature