Effects of Ionized Water Addition on Soil Nitrification Activity and Nitrifier Community Structure

Abstract

Water ionization is an efficient physical water treatment technology, and crop water and nutrient use efficiencies can be improved using ionized water for irrigation. In order to explore the effect of ionized water on soil nitrification and nitrifying microorganisms, we conducted a laboratory soil incubation experiment with the addition of ionized water and ordinary water under different soil water contents (equal to 30%, 60%, 100% and 175% of the field capacity, θFC). During the soil incubation, we analyzed soil inorganic nitrogen transformation, ammonia oxidation gene abundances and nitrifying microbial community structure. The results showed that, no matter adding ordinary water or ionized water, the soil nitrification rate and the abundance of ammonia oxidizing bacteria in the 100%θFC treatment were significantly higher than those in other water conditions, while the abundance of ammonia oxidizing archaea was not affected by the soil water content. With the same soil water content, the nitrification rate of ionized water treatment was stronger than that of the ordinary water treatment. Although the absolute abundance of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in ionized water treatment was significantly lower than that of ordinary water (p < 0.05), the relative abundance of some dominant nitrifying microbial genera in the ionized water treatment was significantly higher (p < 0.05). The dominant genera may play a key role in the nitrification process. The results show that ionized water irrigation can significantly promote the nitrification of silt loam soil, especially under 100%θFC conditions, and may regulate soil nitrification by affecting some dominant nitrifying microorganisms. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding the biological regulation mechanism of ionized water irrigation on soil nutrient transformation and for application of ionized water to field irrigation.