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Nitrogen Cycle and Soil Remediation

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 12477

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Dr. Lei Zhong

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Guest Editor

School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, Tianjin 300072, China
Interests: global climate change and soil nitrogen cycling; soil remediation; biochar preparation technology

Prof. Dr. Xiaoqi Zhou

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Guest Editor

School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
Interests: soil microbial ecology; global change ecology

Prof. Dr. Qianqian Yu

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Guest Editor

School of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Interests: biogeochemical cycling in the Earth's critical zone; mineral–water interfacial processes; environmental geochemistry; soil heavy metal pollution and remediation
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Dear Colleagues,

As soil pollution becomes more and more serious, the living environment and green development of human beings are seriously affected. Functional microorganisms related to nitrogen cycle play an important role in soil ecological function, due to they regulate soil nutrient cycle and greenhouse gases emission (GHGs). In recent years, more and more technologies have been applied to soil remediation, including biochar application, advanced oxidation technology. But the development of these technologies will inevitably lead to changes in soil nutrient cycling, microbial communities, and nitrogen cycling processes. It is difficult to draw conclusions on new soil remediation methods application in soil-microbe-plant ecosystems because of the wide range of type of soil pollution, application ecosystems, and differences in soil biome and nitrogen cycling genes. The novel physicochemical and bioinformatic techniques would allow for a better understanding of the regulatory mechanism of nitrogen cycle during soil remediation process in the soil-microbe-plant ecosystem. This selected research topic aim is to provide important new research accomplishments in soil remediation methods of microorganisms and subsequent nutrient transformation, nitrogen cycle process in different soil ecosystems, and to determine the most effective method for greenhouse gas emission reduction and soil fertility conservation. This special issue welcomes reviews, viewpoints, and research articles that address all aspects of nitrogen cycle and soil remediation.

Dr. Lei Zhong
Prof. Dr. Xiaoqi Zhou
Prof. Dr. Qianqian Yu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

nitrogen cycle
nitrogen
microorganisms
biogeochemical cycles
soil nutrient
soil pollution and remediation
recycling agricultural waste

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Great Facilitation of Thirty Years of Reforestation with Mixed Species to Ecosystem Nitrogen Accumulation in Dry-Hot Valley in the Jinsha River

by Zhilian Gong, Yong Li, Luqing Liu and Shuang Deng

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12660; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912660 - 3 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1249

Abstract

Nitrogen is a key factor influencing ecosystem structure and function in reforestation, but knowledge of ecosystem nitrogen accumulation through reforestation with mixed species is limited. Especially in the dry-hot valley of the Jinsha River, no studies cover total ecosystem nitrogen accumulation in mature plantations and its allocation for difficulty in collecting tree roots and deep soil from dry red soil. In this study, nitrogen accumulation of seven mixed plantations in the dry-hot valley in the Jinsha River was studied after thirty years of reforestation with an analogous sites method. The results were as follows: (1) Soil nitrogen stocks decreased with depth in the soil profile. Deep soil nitrogen storage (20–80 cm) was significantly correlated with stand age (R² = 0.752, p = 0.000; n = 7), accounting for 56–63% of total soil nitrogen storage and 43–47% of soil nitrogen accumulation in the dry-hot valley. (2) Total biomass nitrogen stock of the 30-year-old plantation was 1.22 t ha⁻¹, 61 times that of degraded wasteland and 7.6 times that of natural recovery shrub grassland, and it recovered to the reference level of natural forest following 30 years of reforestation. (3) Total ecosystem nitrogen stock in the 30-year-old plantation was 12.72 t ha⁻¹, 1.4 times the reference wasteland and 1.19 times the natural recovery shrub grassland. The contribution of soil nitrogen to ecosystem nitrogen storage and accumulation was 90% and 67%, respectively. Litter nitrogen accounted for 1.6% ecosystem nitrogen storage. It indicated that reforestation with mixed plantation of Leucaena leucocephala and other species greatly facilitated more ecosystem nitrogen accumulation, especially soil nitrogen (including deep compartment). Secondary biomass nitrogen, especially litter, could not be overlooked. This study filled the gap of ecosystem nitrogen storage and distribution during reforestation in the dry-hot valley. Mixed plantation with legume species such as L. leucocephala and other species and an important role of secondary biomass, especially litter in nitrogen accumulation, provided a reference for the strategy formulation of reforestation and forest nitrogen management in the dry-hot valley and other semi-arid or arid regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nitrogen Cycle and Soil Remediation)

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15 pages, 5858 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Accumulation Characteristics and Pollution Evaluation of Soil Heavy Metals in Different Land Use Types: Study on the Whole Region of Tianjin

by Tiantian Ma, Youwen Zhang, Qingbai Hu, Minghai Han, Xiaohua Li, Youjun Zhang, Zhiguang Li and Rongguang Shi

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10013; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610013 - 14 Aug 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2344

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in soil has received much attention in recent decades. Many studies have analyzed the interaction between specific soil quality and soil heavy metal pollution. However, there is little information about the pollution status, spatial distribution and pollution sources of heavy metals in the province of Tianjin. In this paper, the distribution characteristics and pollution sources of heavy metals in soil were studied by means of the surface soil of Tianjin, as the study area and object, conducted in combination with land use types, using multiple data analysis and multivariate statistics, while the pollution levels were evaluated by various indices. The results showed the mean contents of the seven heavy metals of the studied elements followed an increasing order of Cd (0.15 mg/kg) < As (11.9 mg/kg) < Cu (24.3 mg/kg) = Pb (24.3 mg/kg) < Ni (27.9 mg/kg) < Cr (70.7 mg/kg) < Zn (79.1 mg/kg). The median values of Cr and Ni were lower than the background values and did not exceed the screening values at the points, and the median values of Cu, Zn and Pb were close to the background values, while the median contents of As and Cd were higher than the background values. The highest accumulation of heavy metals was found in grassland, and the coefficient of variation of heavy metal contents were higher in garden land, industrial and mining storage land, residential land and transportation land, indicating that the soil heavy metal contents under these land use types were more significantly disturbed by human factors. The evaluation results of the ground accumulation index method showed that the soil in Tianjin was free of pollution, except for Cd, which was at the non-polluted to moderately polluted level. The Nemero integrated pollution index evaluation method and the pollution load index evaluation method together showed that the integrated pollution levels of heavy metals in Tianjin soils were both at no pollution level/safety level. Apart from Cd and As, which were not correlated, the other heavy metals were correlated with each other two by two. Cd, Pb and Zn were the main pollution contributors from traffic, industry and other anthropogenic factors, while Cr and Ni were the main pollution contributors from soil parent material, and Cu was the main pollution contributor from mining and metal smelting. In addition, As was presumed to be the main source of pollution contribution from agriculture and surface runoff. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nitrogen Cycle and Soil Remediation)

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12 pages, 1875 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Water and Fertilizer Management Practices on Methane Emissions from Paddy Soils: Synthesis and Perspective

by Xinyun Gu, Shimei Weng, Yu’e Li and Xiaoqi Zhou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 7324; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127324 - 15 Jun 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3387

Abstract

Water and fertilizer management practices are considered to have great influence on soil methane (CH₄) emissions from paddy fields. However, few studies have conducted a quantitative analysis of the effects of these management practices. Here, we selected 156 observations of water management from 34 articles and 288 observations of fertilizer management from 37 articles and conducted a global meta-analysis of the effects of water and fertilizer management practices on soil CH₄ emissions in paddy fields. In general, compared with traditional irrigation (long-term flooding irrigation), water-saving irrigation significantly decreased soil CH₄ emissions but increased rice yield. Among the different practices, intermittent irrigation had the fewest reductions in CH₄ emissions but the greatest increase in rice yield. In addition, fertilization management practices such as manure, mixed fertilizer (mixture), and straw significantly enhanced CH₄ emissions. Rice yields were increased under fertilization with a mixture, traditional fertilizer, and controlled release fertilizer. Our results highlight that suitable agricultural water and fertilizer management practices are needed to effectively reduce CH₄ emissions while maintaining rice yields. We also put forward some prospects for mitigating soil CH₄ emissions from paddy fields in the context of global warming in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nitrogen Cycle and Soil Remediation)

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10 pages, 1148 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Yield Variation Characteristics of Red Paddy Soil under Long-Term Green Manure Cultivation and Its Influencing Factors

by Jun Xie, Feng Liang, Junjie Xie, Guanjie Jiang, Xinping Zhang and Qin Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2812; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052812 - 28 Feb 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1914

Abstract

Rice is an important food crop in China, fertilization measures significantly affect soil properties and ultimately change rice yield. Thus, examining the effects of long-term green manure cultivation on the rice yield and the driving factors on rice yield, plays a crucial role in maintaining food security. Based on the long-term green manure cultivation, the treatments included no fertilizer (CK), chemical fertilizer (NPK), chemical fertilizer + Chinese milk vetch (NPK + GM), chemical fertilizer + Chinese milk vetch + rice straws (NPK + GM + S), and chemical fertilizer + Chinese milk vetch + pig manure (NPK + GM + M) treatments. One-way repeated ANOVA was used to determine the effects of diverse fertilizer modes on temporal variations in rice yields. The redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to calculate the magnitudes of the effects of soil properties on rice yield. Compared with the CK treatment, four fertilizer treatments led to significantly increased double-season rice yields (116.40–124.49%), with no significant difference between four fertilizer treatments (p> 0.05). There were five soil properties accounting for 66.3% variation in rice yield (p< 0.05), with available potassium (AK) being the most influential factor (32.2% variation), whereas potential of hydrogen (pH), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and soil organic carbon (SOC) accounted for 15.3%, 10.5%, 5.1%, and 3.2% variation in rice yield (p< 0.05), respectively. Thus, SOC, TN, TP, AK, and pH were major factors affecting the double-season rice yield of red paddy soil under long-term green manure cultivation. However, the results suggested that the effect of green manure on soil fertility is limited by the relatively large amount of chemical fertilizer. The results reported herein can not only increase soil fertility and improve the soil ecological environment, but also enhance and stabilize the yields of double-season rice grown in the red paddy soil of southern China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nitrogen Cycle and Soil Remediation)

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9 pages, 2376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stabilization of Zinc in Agricultural Soil Originated from Commercial Organic Fertilizer by Natural Zeolite

by Lijuan Sun, Shuangxi Li, Peiyun Gong, Ke Song, Hong Zhang, Yafei Sun, Qin Qin, Bin Zhou and Yong Xue

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(3), 1210; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031210 - 22 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1978

Abstract

Exploring ways to reduce the risk of heavy metal pollution by organic fertilizer application is of vital importance. In the present study, by conducting a pot experiment, natural zeolite was applied together with pig manure based organic fertilizer to agricultural soil in order to test its possibility of reducing the risk of heavy metals originating from pig manure. The results showed that a low rate of organic fertilizer (10%) application increased the biomass of Chinese cabbage (by 57.2%), while a high rate of organic fertilizer (30%) decreased the biomass of Chinese cabbage (by 46.16%), and meanwhile a 3% zeolite addition increased the biomass of Chinese cabbage which was treated with 30% organic fertilizer. The organic fertilizer addition decreased soil pH and increased soil CEC, while zeolite addition increased soil pH and decreased the soil organic matter content. The concentration of Zn in Chinese cabbage shoots increased with the organic fertilizer addition from 4.46% to 48.27%, while the addition of 1% and 3% zeolite significantly decreased Zn in Chinese cabbage shoots by 15.53% and 14.08%, respectively. The concentration of DPTA-extractable and DGT-extractable Zn of soil was increased by organic fertilizer application, whereas zeolite addition decreased the concentration of DPTA-extractable and DGT-extractable Zn in soil treated with organic fertilizer. Our present study suggests that natural zeolite application could be a promising method to reduce the risk of heavy metals originating from organic fertilizers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nitrogen Cycle and Soil Remediation)

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