Abundance and community structure of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in an acid paddy soil

Abstract

Nitrification is essential to the nitrogen cycle in paddy soils. However, it is still not clear which group of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms plays more important roles in nitrification in the paddy soils. The changes in the abundance and composition of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were investigated by real-time PCR, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism, and clone library approaches in an acid red paddy soil subjected to long-term fertilization treatments, including treatment without fertilizers (CT); chemical fertilizer nitrogen (N); N and potassium (NK); N and phosphorus (NP); N, P, and K (NPK); and NPK plus recycled crop residues (NPK..