Dual mechanism of electrochemical regulation to reduce soil Nitrous Oxide emissions-microbial recruitment and electron transfer pathway optimization.

Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural nitrogen cycling, primarily Nitrous Oxide (N2O), are intrinsically linked to fertilizer dynamics. Conventional mitigation strategies emphasize synthetic fertilizer reduction, yet suffer from inefficiency and lack of sustainability. This study introduces an electrochemical regulation approach and, through comparative analysis of two fertilizers (ammonium sulfate vs. urea), elucidates dual mechanisms (redox modulation and microbial community engineering). Key findings: (1) 500  mV electrostimulation enriched nitrate-reducing microbiota, reducing N2O by 11.9 ± 5.9% (sulfate) and 14.2 ± 4.4% (urea) via enhanced denitrification; (2) Electrode interventions accelerated N2O-to-N2 conversion (15.8 ± 1.4% and 14.9 ± 8.9%) by optimizing redox fluxes and boosting electroautotrophic Pseudomonas spp. activity; (3) Urea exhibited delayed electroresponsiveness (6-10  h lag) due to slower amide nitrogen hydrolysis kinetics compared to sulfate; (4) Metagenomics confirmed upregulation of nitrogen metabolic genes (norC: 2.9×, nirD: 2.7×, narI: 2.6 × ) and restructured microbial networks. This study elucidates a fundamental electro-microbial mechanism that reconfigures nitrogen-transforming networks, providing a novel paradigm for managing soil biogeochemical cycles.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Bioresource Technology

• Publication date

  2026-02-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.biortech.2026.134255PMID 41724250
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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