Abstract:
Objective The community composition and diversity of nirS denitrifying bacteria in the farmland soil will be determined at different altitudes in the dry-hot valley area of Panzhihua, so as to provide the basis for further study of nitrogen cycle and soil fertility in this area.
Method Farmland soils were collected from the altitudes of 1600 m, 1800 m and 2000 m in Panzhihua dry-hot valleys (DHV), and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) technique was used to analyze the nirS denitrifying bacterial community composition and diversity.
Result Soil pH was all less than 7 under different elevation gradients, and the contents of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, available potassium and ammonium nitrogen decreased along the increase of altitude, while those of available nitrogen, available phosphorus and nitrate nitrogen were increased firstly and then decreased. The richness of nirS denitrifying bacterial community increased with the increase of altitude while the Shannon index and evenness showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. The results of T-RFLP analysis showed that 35bp T-RFs was the dominant nirS denitrifying bacteria and its relative abundance decreased with the increase of altitude. 40bp T-RFs was the second largest one and enhanced with the increase of altitude. Phylogenetic analysis showed that β-Proteobacteria was the main denitrifying bacteria. Redundant analysis showed that soil nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus were the most important factors in shaping the nirS-type denitrifying bacteria community composition.
Conclusion The nirS-type denitrifying bacterial communities in the farmland soil at different altitudes in the dry-hot valley of Panzhihua varied significantly (P < 0.05), and significantly related to soil nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus. Totally, the findings of this study might provide a theoretical basis for deeply comprehending the response mechanism of soil denitrifying microorganisms to soil properties at different altitudes in this dry-hot valley area.