Das, Bikram K.Rubel, Robiul IslamGupta, SurbhiWu, YajunWei, LinBrözel, Volker Siegfried2023-03-312023-03-312022-10-16Das, B.K.; Rubel, R.I.; Gupta, S.;Wu, Y.;Wei, L.; Brözel, V.S. Impacts of Biochar-Based Controlled-Release Nitrogen Fertilizers on Soil Prokaryotic and Fungal Communities. Agriculture 2022, 12, 1706. https://DOI.org/10.3390/agriculture12101706.2077-047210.3390/agriculture12101706http://hdl.handle.net/2263/90312DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The raw data is available on NCBI’s Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database under BioProject: PRJNA854759.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : FIGURE S1: Alpha diversity using Shannon index, Bacterial (A) and Fungal (B) asterisk represent comparisons made using Kruskal–Wallis test with *p < 0.05; FIGURE S2: Bubble plot showing prokaryotic species significantly different for at least one treatment. Multiple dots together signify same grouping across different phyla; TABLE S1: Corn yield and Biomass; TABLE S2: Fertilizer descriptions (wt. % amount with moistures); TABLE S3: Soil Properties; TABLE S4: Commercial fertilizer ingredients; TABLE S5: Taxonomic distribution of the prokaryotic community in soil for each treatment; TABLE S6: Taxa different in high yield compared to other treatments at lowest taxa; TABLE S7: Taxonomic distribution of the fungal community in soil for each treatment; TABLE S8: Genera of fungus significantly different for treatment method.Controlled-release Nitrogen Fertilizers (CRNFs) are an effective fertilization technique by minimizing nutrient loss and making Nitrogen (N) available to plants as they grow. Biochar-based CRNF (BCRNF) technologies have been demonstrated very promising in increase of corn yield. Despite the beneficial effects of BCRNFs, their impacts on prokaryotic and fungal soil communities are not well evaluated. Different formulations of BCRNF were developed to investigate their effects on corn productivity. We analyzed the soil microbes and their functional potential under different BCRNF regimes using amplified V3–V4 region of 16s rRNA for determining prokaryotic, and ITS genes for fungal communities. The soil prokaryotic diversity was similar across the treatments, with differences in prokaryotic genera with relative abundance of 0.1% or less in the soil (p < 0.05). In contrast, the fungal community diversity was different only for unfertilized soil. It had a high relative abundance for Aspergillus. Genus level comparison showed that Pseudofabraea was higher in Bioasphalt-based BCRNF compared to other treatments. Moreover, the N-fixing communities in soil were also similar across the treatments. At genus level, Microvirga, Azospirillum, and Methyloprofundus were highest in no-fertilizer control. The functional potential predictions using PICRUSt2 portrayed a consistent N-cycling functions across the treatments. However, the predicted gene functions related to nitrous-oxide reductase (nosZ) and hydroxylamine reductase (hcp) were significantly lower in soil receiving BCRNF containing biosolid. Overall, BCRNF treatments previously identified to increase corn yield displayed minimal shifts in the soil microbial communities. Thus, such novel fertilization would enable increased crop yield without affecting soil communities leading to sustainable crop production.en© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.NitrogenCornSoil microbiomeMicrobial functionsControlled-release nitrogen fertilizer (CRNF)Biochar-based CRNF (BCRNF)Article