Effect of soil pH and compound concentration on the efficacy of BNIs in soil Raw sequence reads

Nitrogen (N) planetary boundaries have been already surpassed and in consequence, alternatives to minimize current nitrogen fertilizer losses are necessary. Not so long ago, attention turned towards the inhibition of nitrification as an alternative to counteract the negative effects of excessive fertilization practices. The efficacy of synthetic and biological compounds inhibiting this microbially mediated process has been investigated. However, for many biological nitrification inhibitors (BNIs), little is known about their interaction with soil properties as well as their effective concentrations. Here, we investigated the effect of short-term soil pH changes on the efficacy of three synthetic and three biological inhibitors in agricultural soils with contrasting pH and microbial communities. We also determined the effective concentration for the three BNIs. Overall, our results show that some BNIs could be an effective alternative to tackle N fertilizer losses and more research should be conducted to further understand their efficacy and mode of action. Sequencing was performed at the Joint Microbiome Facility of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Vienna under the project ID JMF-2110-10.