[Response of nitrification/denitrification and their associated microbes to soil moisture change in paddy soil].

To investigate the effect of moisture change on nitrification and denitrification and their corresponding functional microbes, an acidic paddy soil from Taoyuan, Hunan Province was selected as the study object, and soil microcosm experiment containing 4 different water holding capacity (WHC) levels (30% WHC, 60% WHC, 90% WHC, and waterlog) was set up in this study. Results showed that no active nitrification and denitrification occurred in 30% WHC treatment as there were no obvious ammonia consumption and nitrate accumulation, while nitrification was active in 60% WHC and 90% WHC treatments as indicated by the obvious accumulation of nitrate in those two treatments. Meanwhile, significant ammonia consumption and N2O emission were only observed in 90% WHC treatment, implying that a much stronger nitrification in 90% WHC treatment than in 60% WHC treatment and the co-occurrence of nitrification and denitrification in 90% WHC treatment. In waterlog treatment, relatively lower N2O emission was detected and no obvious nitrification was detected, corresponding to a significant lower soil Eh in this treatment than in the other three non-waterlog treatments. Except the early stage of incubation (7 d), the abundance of nirS, nirK and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) amoA genes showed similar responses to soil moisture change over time. Except the slight decrease in waterlog treatment, the abundances of the three genes increased significantly as the soil moisture increased, and the highest abundances of nirS, nirK, and amoA gene were observed in 90% WHC treatment in which the highest nitrification and denitrification activity was detected. T-RFLP analysis showed that the community composition of nirS gene-containing denitrifiers changed significantly in response to soil moisture change after two weeks, and soil Eh and C(w) were the main factors affecting the community composition of denitrifiers.