Manganese concentration influences nitrogen cycling in agricultural soil

Avishesh Neupane; Elizabeth M. Herndon; Jennifer M. DeBruyn; Arjun Chhetri; Sindhu Jagadamma

doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106460

Manganese concentration influences nitrogen cycling in agricultural soil

Avishesh Neupane
, Elizabeth M. Herndon
, Jennifer M. DeBruyn
, Arjun Chhetri
, Sindhu Jagadamma

Plant-Soil Interactions

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Manganese (Mn) can modulate nitrogen (N) transformations in soil, yet its role in agroecosystems remains understudied. We conducted a 51-day microcosm incubation with agricultural soils differing in long-term N history (N₀, no added N; N₁, added 225 kg N ha⁻¹ for a duration of 27 years) and amended with soluble Mn at 0 (M₀), 50 (M₁), or 250 (M₂) mg kg⁻¹ and Glyceria striata (Lam.) residue. In N₁ soils, Mn additions (both M₁ and M₂) lowered total mineral N by 25 % relative to N₁M₀ at day 51 and reduced 51-day cumulative N₂O by 32 % (N₁M₁) and 42 % (N₁M₂) vs. N₁M₀, whereas effects in N₀ were negligible. Mn also depressed ammonia-oxidizing bacterial amoA gene transcripts at day 15 in N₁M₂ vs. N₁M₀ (2.5 fold change). This reduction was likely due to increased N loss via complete denitrification to N₂ through microbial pathways such as nitrate/nitrite-dependent manganese oxidation (NDMO), where bacteria directly used the added Mn²⁺ to reduce nitrate (NO₃⁻) and nitrite (NO₂⁻) to N₂ or as Mn dependent-ammonia oxidation (Mnammox) where bacteria oxidized ammonium (NH₄⁺) to N₂, using Mn oxides as electron acceptors that formed from the oxidation of the added Mn. Other contributing mechanisms may include Mn-induced N immobilization, toxicity, and changes in the microbial community. These mechanistic results indicate that background Mn availability and redox dynamics can shape nitrification–denitrification pathways under N-rich conditions. We highlight how native Mn pools and redox state may help explain observed variability in N losses and greenhouse gas production across agricultural soils.

Original language	English
Article number	106460
Journal	Applied Soil Ecology
Volume	215
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106460
State	Published - Nov 2025

Funding

This research was funded by Science Alliance-University of Tennessee Partnership's Support for Affiliated Research Teams (StART) Program. E.H. was supported through the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and by the Watershed Dynamics and Evolution SFA funded by Biological and Environmental Research at the Department of Energy. We thank Hanna Poffenbarger at the University of Kentucky for providing soil samples and Thea Whitman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for providing the residue. We thank Rachel Wooliver, Maddie Evans, Stacy Taylor, Jialin Hu, and Rounak Patra for the lab support. This manuscript has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://www.energy.gov/doe-public-access-plan )

Keywords

Decomposition
Manganese
Mnammox
Nitrogen cycling
Nitrous oxide
amoA genes

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10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106460

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title = "Manganese concentration influences nitrogen cycling in agricultural soil",

abstract = "Manganese (Mn) can modulate nitrogen (N) transformations in soil, yet its role in agroecosystems remains understudied. We conducted a 51-day microcosm incubation with agricultural soils differing in long-term N history (N0, no added N; N1, added 225 kg N ha−1 for a duration of 27 years) and amended with soluble Mn at 0 (M0), 50 (M1), or 250 (M2) mg kg−1 and Glyceria striata (Lam.) residue. In N1 soils, Mn additions (both M1 and M2) lowered total mineral N by 25 \% relative to N1M0 at day 51 and reduced 51-day cumulative N₂O by 32 \% (N1M1) and 42 \% (N1M2) vs. N1M0, whereas effects in N0 were negligible. Mn also depressed ammonia-oxidizing bacterial amoA gene transcripts at day 15 in N1M2 vs. N1M0 (2.5 fold change). This reduction was likely due to increased N loss via complete denitrification to N₂ through microbial pathways such as nitrate/nitrite-dependent manganese oxidation (NDMO), where bacteria directly used the added Mn2+ to reduce nitrate (NO3−) and nitrite (NO2−) to N2 or as Mn dependent-ammonia oxidation (Mnammox) where bacteria oxidized ammonium (NH4+) to N2, using Mn oxides as electron acceptors that formed from the oxidation of the added Mn. Other contributing mechanisms may include Mn-induced N immobilization, toxicity, and changes in the microbial community. These mechanistic results indicate that background Mn availability and redox dynamics can shape nitrification–denitrification pathways under N-rich conditions. We highlight how native Mn pools and redox state may help explain observed variability in N losses and greenhouse gas production across agricultural soils.",

keywords = "Decomposition, Manganese, Mnammox, Nitrogen cycling, Nitrous oxide, amoA genes",

author = "Avishesh Neupane and Herndon, \{Elizabeth M.\} and DeBruyn, \{Jennifer M.\} and Arjun Chhetri and Sindhu Jagadamma",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2025",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106460",

language = "English",

volume = "215",

journal = "Applied Soil Ecology",

issn = "0929-1393",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Manganese concentration influences nitrogen cycling in agricultural soil

AU - Neupane, Avishesh

AU - Herndon, Elizabeth M.

AU - DeBruyn, Jennifer M.

AU - Chhetri, Arjun

AU - Jagadamma, Sindhu

PY - 2025/11

Y1 - 2025/11

N2 - Manganese (Mn) can modulate nitrogen (N) transformations in soil, yet its role in agroecosystems remains understudied. We conducted a 51-day microcosm incubation with agricultural soils differing in long-term N history (N0, no added N; N1, added 225 kg N ha−1 for a duration of 27 years) and amended with soluble Mn at 0 (M0), 50 (M1), or 250 (M2) mg kg−1 and Glyceria striata (Lam.) residue. In N1 soils, Mn additions (both M1 and M2) lowered total mineral N by 25 % relative to N1M0 at day 51 and reduced 51-day cumulative N₂O by 32 % (N1M1) and 42 % (N1M2) vs. N1M0, whereas effects in N0 were negligible. Mn also depressed ammonia-oxidizing bacterial amoA gene transcripts at day 15 in N1M2 vs. N1M0 (2.5 fold change). This reduction was likely due to increased N loss via complete denitrification to N₂ through microbial pathways such as nitrate/nitrite-dependent manganese oxidation (NDMO), where bacteria directly used the added Mn2+ to reduce nitrate (NO3−) and nitrite (NO2−) to N2 or as Mn dependent-ammonia oxidation (Mnammox) where bacteria oxidized ammonium (NH4+) to N2, using Mn oxides as electron acceptors that formed from the oxidation of the added Mn. Other contributing mechanisms may include Mn-induced N immobilization, toxicity, and changes in the microbial community. These mechanistic results indicate that background Mn availability and redox dynamics can shape nitrification–denitrification pathways under N-rich conditions. We highlight how native Mn pools and redox state may help explain observed variability in N losses and greenhouse gas production across agricultural soils.

AB - Manganese (Mn) can modulate nitrogen (N) transformations in soil, yet its role in agroecosystems remains understudied. We conducted a 51-day microcosm incubation with agricultural soils differing in long-term N history (N0, no added N; N1, added 225 kg N ha−1 for a duration of 27 years) and amended with soluble Mn at 0 (M0), 50 (M1), or 250 (M2) mg kg−1 and Glyceria striata (Lam.) residue. In N1 soils, Mn additions (both M1 and M2) lowered total mineral N by 25 % relative to N1M0 at day 51 and reduced 51-day cumulative N₂O by 32 % (N1M1) and 42 % (N1M2) vs. N1M0, whereas effects in N0 were negligible. Mn also depressed ammonia-oxidizing bacterial amoA gene transcripts at day 15 in N1M2 vs. N1M0 (2.5 fold change). This reduction was likely due to increased N loss via complete denitrification to N₂ through microbial pathways such as nitrate/nitrite-dependent manganese oxidation (NDMO), where bacteria directly used the added Mn2+ to reduce nitrate (NO3−) and nitrite (NO2−) to N2 or as Mn dependent-ammonia oxidation (Mnammox) where bacteria oxidized ammonium (NH4+) to N2, using Mn oxides as electron acceptors that formed from the oxidation of the added Mn. Other contributing mechanisms may include Mn-induced N immobilization, toxicity, and changes in the microbial community. These mechanistic results indicate that background Mn availability and redox dynamics can shape nitrification–denitrification pathways under N-rich conditions. We highlight how native Mn pools and redox state may help explain observed variability in N losses and greenhouse gas production across agricultural soils.

KW - Decomposition

KW - Manganese

KW - Mnammox

KW - Nitrogen cycling

KW - Nitrous oxide

KW - amoA genes

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105015602812

U2 - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106460

DO - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106460

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105015602812

SN - 0929-1393

VL - 215

JO - Applied Soil Ecology

JF - Applied Soil Ecology

M1 - 106460

ER -

Manganese concentration influences nitrogen cycling in agricultural soil

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