Strategies of soil microbial N-cycling in different cadmium contaminated soil with wheat straw return

Cadmium contamination inevitably affects the microbially mediated transformation of nitrogen in soils with wheat straw return. The responses of nitrogen functional microorganisms to cadmium in acidic and alkaline soils under wheat straw returned are still unclear. In this study, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and sequencing of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria were performed to investigate the effects of wheat straw application on nitrogen conversion in different Cd-contaminated soils during an incubation experiment. Results showed that the presence of Cd decreased the abundance of hao gene catalyzing nitrification and norB gene catalyzing denitrification process, resulting the accumulation of NH