Nitrapyrin affects the abundance of ammonia oxidizers rather than community structure in a yellow clay paddy soil

Purpose Yellow clay paddy soil (Oxisols) is a low-yield soil with low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in southern China. The nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin (2-chloro-6- (tricholoromethyl)-pyridine, CP) has been applied to improve NUE and reduce environmental pollution in paddy soil. However, the effects of nitrapyrin combined with nitrogen fertilizers on ammonia oxidizers in yellow clay paddy soil have not been examined.