Life Sciences Commons^™

Nitrogen Fertilization And Native C4 Grass Species Alter Abundance, Activity, And Diversity Of Soil Diazotrophic Communities, Jialin Hu, Jonathan D. Richwine, Patrick D. Keyser, Lidong Li, Fei Yao, Sindhu Jagadamma, Jennifer M. Debruyn

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Native C₄ grasses have become the preferred species for native perennial pastures and bioenergy production due to their high productivity under low soil nitrogen (N) status. One reason for their low N requirement is that C4 grasses may benefit from soil diazotrophs and promote biological N fixation. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of N fertilization rates (0, 67, and 202 kg N ha⁻¹ ) and grass species (switchgrass [Panicum virgatum] and big bluestem [Andropogon gerardii]) on the abundance, activity, diversity, and community composition of soil diazotrophs over three agricultural seasons (grass green-up, initial harvest, and second …