Abundance of denitrifying genes and their driving factors in soil under different land use types in the karst region of Northwest Guangxi

doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.202312.013

Abstract

Abstract: To understand the role of denitrifying microbes during vegetation recovery in karst regions, we determined the basic physicochemical properties and abundance of denitrifying microbial functional genes (nirS, nirK, fungal nirK, p450nor, and nosZ) of 13 collected soil samples under three land use types (cropland, grassland, and plantation) in Northwest Guangxi, and investigated the changes in the abundance of denitrifying microbial functional genes and their driving factors. Results showed that soil pH, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen (TN), and exchangeable calcium (Ca_exe) in plantation soil were significantly higher than those in cropland and grassland. The abundance of nirS, nirK, p450nor, and nosZ in plantation soil were significantly higher than those in cropland and grassland. Soil pH, TN, and Ca_exe were positively correlated with the abundance of denitrifying functional genes nirS, nirK, and p450nor. Results of redundancy analysis showed that soil Ca_exe, pH and TN were the primary factors influencing the abundance of denitrifying functional genes, which accounted for 34.1%, 20.1%, and 16.1% of the total variation, respectively. Such a result suggested that Ca_exe was the main driver of changes in denitrifying functional genes under different land use types. Overall, vegetation restoration (plantation) could effectively increase soil denitrifying microbe genes abundance in the karst region of Northwest Guangxi, and consequently influence soil nitrogen cycling.

Key words: land use pattern, denitrifying bacteria, denitrifying fungi, exchangeable calcium

WAN Xiangyu, XIAO Kongcao, LI Dejun, ZHANG Yuling, DUAN Pengpeng. Abundance of denitrifying genes and their driving factors in soil under different land use types in the karst region of Northwest Guangxi[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2023, 34(12): 3340-3346.

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