Maize microbiocenosis after using anhydrous ammonia as a nitrogen fertilizer

When using anhydrous ammonia as a nitrogen fertilizer, it is necessary to evaluate the reaction of the microbial community to it. Studying microbiocenosis before the introduction of anhydrous ammonia, we have found that the studied soil rich in phosphates, diazotrophic pathogens, and actinobacteria. The number of micromycetes is low, the genus Penicillium is dominant. Seven days after soil treatment with anhydrous ammonia in the control variant, no significant changes in the number of ammonifiers, nitrogen fixers, phosphate mobilizing microorganisms, and actinobacteria were noted. Only the number of mold fungi almost triples. During this period, in the variants with the introduction of anhydrous ammonia, only the number of ammonifiers and phosphate-mobilizing microorganisms decreases (by 1.6 and 1.3 times compared with the control, respectively). The number of diazotrophs and actinobacteria does not change. The most pronounced increase was noted in bacteria that use mineral forms of nitrogen - their number increases by 4.6 times. Representatives of the genera Mucor, Aspergillus, Trichoderma appear in soil samples. Anhydrous ammonia introduced into the soil after 7 days can cause a short-term effect of suppressing the number of ammonifiers and phosphate-mobilizing microorganisms, which is leveled over time due to both biotic and abiotic factors (binding with soil substances, weathering, evaporation, etc.). More obvious are the changes in the microbial composition of the soil 21 days after its treatment with anhydrous ammonia. In the control variant, ammonifiers and nitrogen fixers become half as much, the number of mineralizing bacteria and micromycetes decreases. Three weeks later, in the variants with anhydrous ammonia, the number of almost all studied groups of microorganisms is comparable to the control or higher (phosphate mobilizing bacteria). These changes seem to be associated with the ontogeny of maize plants and the influence of weather conditions. After the introduction of anhydrous ammonia, after 21 days, the soil microflora changes insignificantly. Its use in the initial period of corn growth does not lead to any significant, including negative, changes in the composition of soil microbiocenosis. We consider the use of anhydrous ammonia as one of the ways to solve the problem of nitrogen in agriculture.