N2O emission from cropland field soil through fungal denitrification after surface applications of organic fertilizer

Agricultural fields are one of the largest anthropogenic sources of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O). Fungi have been suggested to contribute substantially to N2O emission in terrestrial environments; however, the extent of the fungal contribution and the phylogenetic and physiologic nature of related fungal communities in agricultural fields are largely unknown. This study focused on the large N2O emission from cropland soil that occurs after granular organic fertilizers were applied to the surface. The granular organic fertilizers applied were evidently covered by fungal mycelia. An experiment using a soil microcosm was established to imitate the field observations. N2O emissions following surface organic fertilization were suppressed by 84 and 20% after the addition of cycloheximide (a fungal inhibitor) and streptomycin (a bacterial inhibitor), respectively, suggesting that fungi provide the main contribution to the observed N2O emission. The population density and community composition of fungi in the surface-fertilized and non-fertilized soils in the field were determined using colony counting, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and subsequent phylogenetic analyses. Thirty-four fungal strains were isolated from the soils, and their N2O producing activities were analyzed. Fungal population density in the surface-fertilized soil (2.6 × 106 CFU/g) was much higher than that in the non-fertilized soil (1.0 × 105 CFU/g). In addition, the fungal community compositions of the soils differed. Actinomucor elegans, Bionectria ochroleuca, Fusarium avenaceum, Fusarium equiseti, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani and Nectria sp. dominated the surface-fertilized soil, and their activity in producing N2O was confirmed. These results suggested that N2O emission after the surface application of granular organic fertilizers in the cropland field mainly resulted from fungal denitrification.