Application of biofertilizer containing Bacillus subtilis reduced the nitrogen loss in agricultural soil

Abstract Nitrogen losses caused by excess fertilizer application in agriculture are one of the main sources of non-point pollution. Biofertilizer has been considered as an effective alternative to synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, but the effectiveness and mechanism for controlling non-point pollution remains unclear. In this study, the effect of biofertilizer containing Bacillus subtilis on nitrogen loss in agricultural soil was investigated. Compared with the application of urea alone, the strategy of substituting 50% urea with biofertilizer reduced the nitrogen loss from farmland soil by 54%. Moreover, this strategy also increased nitrogen use efficiency by 11.2% and achieved a 5.0% increase in crop yield. Application of biofertilizer decreased the abundance of bacterial amoA gene and increased the abundance of narG, nirS, nirK, and nosZ genes in soil. This implied a decrease in nitrification and an increase in denitrification. Thus, it reduced the accumulation of NO3−-N in soil and greatly reduced nitrogen runoff and leaching loss. In addition, biofertilizer decreased the abundance of nitrogen-fixing gene nifH by up to 2 times. Application of biofertilizer also increased the abundance of Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi, which play important roles in degradation of soil organic matter. In conclusion, the biofertilizer regulated the microbial nitrogen transformation process in soil and reduced nitrogen loss from agroecosystems.