A Meta-analysis of the Effects of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on the Soil Microbial Community

doi:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764X.2020.03.007

Abstract

Abstract:

In order to investigate the general tendency of soil microbial community responses to fertilizers, a meta-analysis approach was used to synthesise observations on the effects of inorganic and organic fertilizer addition (N: nitrogen; P: phosphorus; NP: nitrogen and phosphorus; PK: phosphorus and potassium; NPK: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; OF: organic fertilizer; OF+NPK: organic fertilizer plus NPK) on soil microbial communities. Among the various studies, PK, NPK, OF and OF+NPK addition increased total phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) by 52.0%, 19.5%, 334.3% and 58.3%, respectively; while NP, OF and OF+NPK addition increased fungi by 5.6%, 21.0% and 8.2%, respectively. NP, NPK and OF addition increased bacteria by 6.4%, 9.8% and 13.3%, respectively; while NP and NPK addition increased actinomycetes by 7.0% and 14.8%, respectively. Addition of ammonium nitrate rather than urea decreased gram-negative bacteria (G ^-). N addition increased total PLFA、bacteria and actinomycetes in croplands, but decreased fungi and bacteria in forests, and the F/B ratio in grasslands. NPK addition increased total PLFA in forests but not in croplands. The N addition rate was positively correlated with the effects of N addition on gram-positive bacteria (G ⁺) and G ^-. Therefore, different fertilizers appear to have different effects on the soil microbial community. Organic fertilizers can have a greater positive effect on the soil microbial community than inorganic fertilizers. The effects of fertilizers on the soil microbial community varied with ecosystem types. The effect of N addition on the soil microbial community was related to both the forms of nitrogen that were added and the nitrogen addition rate.

Key words: ecosystem types, nitrogen addition rate, response ratio, soil PLFA

WANG Jiangwei, ZHANG Guangyu, YU Chengqun. A Meta-analysis of the Effects of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on the Soil Microbial Community[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2020, 11(3): 298-303.

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Effect sizes of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), nitrogen+phosphorus (NP), phosphorus+potassium (PK), nitrogen+phosphorus+potassium (NPK), organic fertilizers (OF), and organic fertilizers + NPK (OF+NPK) on soil total PLFA. The error bars indicate effect sizes and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. The effect was statistically significant if the 95%CI did not bracket zero. The dashed line is drawn at effect size = 0. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.

Fig. 2 Effect sizes of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), nitrogen+ phosphorus (NP), nitrogen+phosphorus+potassium (NPK), organic fertilizers (OF), and organic fertilizers+NPK (OF+ NPK) on soil (a) fungi, (b) bacteria and (c) actinomycetes. The error bars indicate effect sizes and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. The effect was statistically significant if the 95%CI did not bracket zero. The dashed lines are drawn at effect size = 0. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.

Fig. 3 Effect sizes of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), nitrogen+phosphorus (NP), nitrogen+phosphorus+potassium (NPK) and organic fertilizers (OF) on soil (a) gram-positive bacteria, and (b) gram-negative bacteria. The error bars indicate effect sizes and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. The effect was statistically significant if the 95%CI did not bracket zero. The dashed lines are drawn at effect size = 0. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.

Fig. 4 Effect sizes of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), nitrogen+phosphorus (NP), and nitrogen+phosphorus+potassium (NPK) on the ratio of soil fungi to bacteria (F/B ratio). The error bars indicate effect sizes and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. The effect was statistically significant if the 95%CI did not bracket zero. The dashed line is drawn at effect size = 0. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.

Fig. 5 Effect sizes of nitrogen (N) on PLFA, fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes, gram-positive bacteria (G+) and gram-negative bacteria (G-) in (a) forest (b) grassland and (c) cropland. The error bars indicate effect sizes and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. The effect was statistically significant if the 95%CI did not bracket zero. The dashed lines are drawn at effect size = 0. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.

Fig. 6 Effect sizes of (a) ammonium nitrate and (b) urea on PLFA, fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes, gram-positive bacteria (G+) and gram-negative bacteria (G-). The error bars indicate effect sizes and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. The effect was statistically significant if the 95%CI did not bracket zero. The dashed lines are drawn at effect size = 0. The sample size for each variable is shown next to the bar.

Table 1 Relationships between the effect sizes of nitrogen addition on microbial indicators (total PLFA, fungi, bacteria, actinomycetes, G+, G-, and F/B ratio), and experimental variables (latitude, longitude, MAT, MAP, nitrogen addition rate, nitrogen load, and nitrogen addition duration) based on a random effects model with a continuous variable meta- analysis.

Variables	Slope		P		n
Latitude
PLFA	0.012		0.155		34
Fungi	0.007		0.575		30
Bacteria	0.006		0.477		26
G^-	-0.003		0.812		22
Longitude
PLFA	-0.002		0.090		34
Fungi	-0.001		0.492		30
Bacteria	-0.001		0.466		26
G^-	-0.0010		0.439		22
MAT
PLFA		0.018		0.183		23
Fungi		0.018		0.296		22
MAP
PLFA	0.000		0.531		28
Fungi	0.000		0.885		27
Bacteria	0.000		0.907		23
G^-	0.000		0.361		21
Nitrogen addition rate
PLFA	0.001		0.153		31
Fungi	0.001		0.090		32
Bacteria	0.001		0.051		28
Actinomycetes	0.001		0.392		22
G⁺	0.002		0.015		22
G^-	0.002		0.001		24
F/B ratio	0.000		0.513		21
Nitrogen load
Fungi	0.000		0.425		21
Nitrogen duration
PLFA	-0.0001		0.906		30
Fungi	0.0002		0.841		26
Bacteria	0.0005		0.524		22
G^-	0.0006		0.434		21

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