Effects of fumigation with metam-sodium on soil microbial biomass, respiration, nitrogen transformation, bacterial community diversity and genes encoding key enzymes involved in nitrogen cycling

Metam-sodium (MS) is widely used as a soil pre-plant fumigant as methyl bromide is phased out of agriculture. However, the information about how fumigation with MS affects the soil microbial community is still limited. In this study, a 66-day-long experiment was conducted to ascertain the effects of MS on soil substrate-induced respiration (SIR), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), NH₄⁺-N and NO₃^--N concentrations, as well as the abundance of the total bacteria and fungi and the expression of genes involved in nitrogen cycling. In addition, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to investigate the effect of MS on the soil bacterial community. The half-lives of high and low doses of methyl isothiocyanate (MITC) are 10.51h and 9.93h, respectively. MS caused a short-term inhibition of SIR, MBN; had an accumulation effect on NH4⁺-N concentration in the short term; reduced the abundance of the total bacteria and fungi; and suppressed the expression of the nifH, AOA-amoA, anammox bacteria, nosZ, nirS, and narG. In addition, under the influence of MS, soil bacterial diversity decreased significantly in the long term, bacterial community structure was affected, and there was a shift in the predominant population; for example, some genera, such as Paenibacillus and Luteimonas, significantly increased in number. These changes in bacterial flora may be closely related to the growth of crops. Our study provides useful information for environmental safety assessments of MS in China.