Soil acidification drives a massive accumulation of nitrite as a mechanistic bottleneck to inhibit maize growth and productivity.

Hang Luo, Di Xu, Yifan Wang, Tianyi He, Lu Zhang, Dan Jiang, Yang E, Haijun Hu, Wenfu Chen

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Hang LuoNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Di XuNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Yifan WangNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Tianyi HeNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Lu ZhangNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Dan JiangNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Yang ENational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Haijun HuZunyi Normal College, Zunyi, China.

Wenfu ChenNational Biochar Institute of Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Soil acidification poses a critical threat to global agricultural sustainability, particularly in high-buffering Mollisol (black soil) ecosystems. However, the microbially mediated biochemical mechanisms underlying nitrogen (N) transformation blockages and subsequent phytotoxicity under acid stress remain poorly understood. Here, using a controlled soil acidification gradient (pH 2.0-7.0) combined with 16S rRNA gene sequencing, functional profiling (FAPROTAX), quantitative PCR (qPCR), and chemical N speciation, we unravel a key microbially driven mechanism governing acid-induced crop failure. Our findings demonstrate that soil acidification imposes strong deterministic environmental filtering (βNTI approaching +2) on the rhizosphere microbiome, driving a drastic collapse in microbial phylogenetic diversity (Chao1 index). This structural transition severely alters N-cycling functional guilds, inducing a profound functional bottleneck. In strong acid treatments (pH 2.0-4.0), ammonium (NH

Indexed as

functional decouplingMollisolnitrification bottlenecknitrite accumulationphytotoxicitysoil acidification

Identifiers

PMID42827880

DOI10.3389/fmicb.2026.1830432

PMCPMC13630935

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.