Impact of nitrogen fertilization on the soil microbiome and nitrous oxide emissions

Cassman, N.A.

Cassman, N.A. (2019)

Impact of nitrogen fertilization on the soil microbiome and nitrous oxide emissions

Doctoral Thesis

The use of N fertilizers has increased worldwide in the past century. While this increased input of N has increased food productivity, it has also contributed to decreases in biodiversity, soil quality and environmental health, including increases in greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions in agricultural soils are largely carried out by the soil microbiome, or the microorganisms living in the soil and transforming N fertilizers to different forms. Here, the overall research aim was to gain detailed insight into the effects of nitrogen fertilizer schemes, including long term fertilization, on soil microbial communities. To do this, I applied next-generation sequencing technology and associated bioinformatics analyses to field experiments in the Netherlands and in Brazil.

Nitrogen fertilizer

Nitrous oxide emissions

Sugarcane agriculture

Fertilized grassland

Metagenomics

Amplicon metagenomics

Genome binning