Connecting soil nitrogen availability and crop yield for a greener agriculture

• The microbial conversion of nitrogen in agriculture is an undeniable challenge,since high rates of N are introduced into the soil (up to 120Tg per year)

• Up to 70% of the introduced N is converted by chemolithoautotrophs to nitrate and gaseous forms of N,such as the greenhouse gas NO and N2O

• Commercial nitrification inhibitors (NI) are preventing this process, however their performance is unpredictable in many climate conditions and soil compositions

• NI like Nitrapyrin®, DMPP® and DCD ® are believed inactivate the key step of nitrification, the oxidation of ammonium to hydroxylamine by the ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) and are applied with N fertilisers,however no evidence has been shown for the inhibitory mechanism of AMO of these compounds and their effect on plant growth