Effects of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) on N2Oemissions and the abundance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in two contrasting agricultural soils

Purpose Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a trace gas and is mainly produced through the microbial-mediated nitrification and denitrification processes in agricultural soils. Dicyandiamide (DCD) is a powerful nitrification inhibitor (NI) which can mitigate N2O production from soil. However, it remains poorly understood how N2O emission and associated microbes are affected by DCD application across different agricultural soils.