Irrigation water salinity and N fertilization：Effects on ammonia oxidizer abundance, enzyme activity and cotton growth in a drip irrigated cotton ifeld

摘要

Use of saline water in irrigated agriculture has become an important means for aleviating water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions. The objective of this ifeld experiment was to evaluate the effects of irrigation water salinity and N fertilization on soil physicochemical and biological properties related to nitriifcation and denitriifcation. A 3×2 factorial design was used with three levels of irrigation water salinity (0.35, 4.61 and 8.04 dS m–1) and two N rates (0 and 360 kg N ha–1). The results indicated that irrigation water salinity and N fertilization had signiifcant effects on many soil physicochemical properties including water content, salinity, pH, NH4-N concentration, and NO3-N concentration. The abundance (i.e., gene copy number) of ammo-nia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) was greater than that of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in al treatments. Irrigation water salinity had no signiifcant effect on the abundance of AOA or AOB in unfertilized plots. However, saline irrigation water (i.e., the 4.61 and 8.04 dS m–1 treatments) reduced AOA abundance, AOB abundance and potential nitriifcation rate in N fertilized plots. Regardless of N application rate, saline irrigation water increased urease activity but reduced the activities of both nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase. Irrigation with saline irrigation water signiifcantly reduced cotton biomass, N uptake and yield. Nitrogen application exacerbated the negative effect of saline water. These results suggest that brackish water and saline water irrigation could signiifcantly reduce both the abundance of ammonia oxidizers and potential nitriifcation rates. The AOA may play a more important role than AOB in nitriifcation in desert soil.