Sulfate as an Alternative Electron Acceptor: A Potential Strategy to Mitigate N2O Emissions in Upland Arable Soils

Sulfate as an Alternative Electron Acceptor: A Potential Strategy to Mitigate N2O Emissions in Upland Arable Soils | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sulfate as an Alternative Electron Acceptor: A Potential Strategy to Mitigate N 2 O Emissions in Upland Arable Soils HYUN HO LEE, CHANG OH HONG, HANBEEN KIM, YELIM PARK, JEONGEUN YUN, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4789103/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Denitrification remains widely recognized as a significant contributor to N 2 O emissions in upland arable soils. This study evaluated metal sulfates (MSs) and zero-valent metals (ZVMs) as potential alternative electron acceptors (EAs) to reduce N 2 O emissions through microcosm experiments, functional gene analyses, microbial profiling, isotope mapping, and field-based manipulation experiments. ZVMs increased N 2 O emissions, whereas MSs significantly reduced them mainly by inhibiting denitrification rather than affecting nitrification. Isotopic mapping and NH 4 + and NO 3 - concentration trends strongly supported these findings. Additionally, changes in microbial communities were noted, with a more general presence capable of using both NO 3 - and SO 4 2- . SO 4 2- could act as an EA alongside NO 3 - in anaerobic respiration, effectively reducing N 2 O emissions. Field experiments demonstrated the feasibility of MS applications, reducing yield-scaled N 2 O emissions by 7.6% to 21.5% compared to conventional practice without negatively impacting crop yields, highlighting the potential of SO 4 2- materials as soil amendments in sustainable agriculture. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Agroecology Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Climate-change mitigation Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Sustainability Scientific community and society/Agriculture Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files N2OSO4UplandSupplementaryDB.docx Dataset 1 SupplementaryTable2.xlsx Dataset 2 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4789103","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":331292824,"identity":"7143e2ad-d1dc-4321-bb02-8fc7da8677e4","order_by":0,"name":"HYUN HO 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This study evaluated metal sulfates (MSs) and zero-valent metals (ZVMs) as potential alternative electron acceptors (EAs) to reduce N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO emissions through microcosm experiments, functional gene analyses, microbial profiling, isotope mapping, and field-based manipulation experiments. ZVMs increased N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO emissions, whereas MSs significantly reduced them mainly by inhibiting denitrification rather than affecting nitrification. Isotopic mapping and NH\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e+\u003c/sup\u003e and NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e-\u003c/sup\u003e concentration trends strongly supported these findings. Additionally, changes in microbial communities were noted, with a more general presence capable of using both NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e-\u003c/sup\u003e and SO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2-\u003c/sup\u003e. SO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2-\u003c/sup\u003e could act as an EA alongside NO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e-\u003c/sup\u003e in anaerobic respiration, effectively reducing N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO emissions. Field experiments demonstrated the feasibility of MS applications, reducing yield-scaled N\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO emissions by 7.6% to 21.5% compared to conventional practice without negatively impacting crop yields, highlighting the potential of SO\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2-\u003c/sup\u003e materials as soil amendments in sustainable agriculture.","manuscriptTitle":"Sulfate as an Alternative Electron Acceptor: A Potential Strategy to Mitigate N2O Emissions in Upland Arable Soils","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-25 04:26:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4789103/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2b21708c-7404-4828-abd8-d90f0b63529a","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 25th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":35075057,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Agroecology"},{"id":35075058,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Climate-change mitigation"},{"id":35075059,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Sustainability"},{"id":35075060,"name":"Scientific community and society/Agriculture"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-08-28T16:00:42+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-25 04:26:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4789103","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4789103","identity":"rs-4789103","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}