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Mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions from soils by Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculation

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a greenhouse gas that is also capable of destroying the ozone layer1. Agricultural soil is the largest source of N2O (ref. 2). Soybean is a globally important leguminous crop, and hosts symbiotic nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria (rhizobia) that can also produce N2O (ref. 3). In agricultural soil, N2O is emitted from fertilizer and soil nitrogen. In soybean ecosystems, N2O is also emitted from the degradation of the root nodules4. Organic nitrogen inside the nodules is mineralized to NH4+, followed by nitrification and denitrification that produce N2O. N2O is then emitted into the atmosphere or is further reduced to N2 by N2O reductase (N2OR), which is encoded by the nosZ gene. Pure culture and vermiculite pot experiments showed lower N2O emission by nosZ+ strains5 and nosZ++ strains (mutants with increased N2OR activity)6 of Bradyrhizobium japonicum than by nosZ− strains. A pot experiment using soil confirmed these results7. Although enhancing N2OR activity has been suggested as a N2O mitigation option8,9, this has never been tested in the field. Here, we show that post-harvest N2O emission from soybean ecosystems due to degradation of nodules can be mitigated by inoculation of nosZ+ and non-genetically modified organism nosZ++ strains of B. japonicum at a field scale.

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Figure 1: Mitigation of N2O emission from degrading nodules by inoculation with B. japonicum.
Figure 2: Mitigation potential of N2O by nosZ++ strains.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported financially by the Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (BRAIN; the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activities for Innovative Biosciences), and by the Funding Program for Next Generation World-Leading Researchers of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). H.A. and Y.T.H. are grateful for support from the Supporting Activities for Female Researchers, Japan Science and Technology Agency. C.S. was supported by a JSPS fellowship.

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K.M., M.H. and H.A. designed the research. M.I., Y. Uetake, C.S. and S.E. generated the mutants and conducted the pure culture and pot experiments. Y. Uchida, H.A., Y.T.H., Y.S., S.M., K.T., Y.W., C.H. and M.H. conducted the field experiments. M.I., Y. Uchida, H.A., Y.T.H., K.T., C.S., M.H. and K.M. wrote the paper. All authors have discussed the results and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Masahito Hayatsu or Kiwamu Minamisawa.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Itakura, M., Uchida, Y., Akiyama, H. et al. Mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions from soils by Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculation. Nature Clim Change 3, 208–212 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1734

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