ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1631852
This article is part of the Research TopicHarnessing Rhizosphere Microbiomes for Climate-Smart Crop Production to Mitigate Biotic and Abiotic StressView all articles
Nitrogen Fertilizer Improves Salix matsudana Growth and Soil Properties
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei Key Laboratory of Floral Biological Breeding, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
- 2Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 3Hongyashan State-Owned Forest Farm, Baoding, China
- 4College of Landscape Architecture and Tourism, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, China
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Soil contamination with heavy metals, particularly lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd), has become a growing environmental concern due to rapid industrialization. Salix matsudana, a woody energy plant with notable tolerance to heavy metals, exhibits considerable potential for use in phytoremediation. Although nitrogen (N) fertilization is known to promote the growth of S. matsudana, its dual role in enhancing plant development and improving soil conditions remains insufficiently understood. In this study, we systematically examined the effects of varying nitrogen fertilizer concentrations on the growth of S. matsudana, heavy metal uptake, and rhizosphere soil characteristics through integrated physiological and multi-omics approaches. Our findings revealed that high nitrogen levels significantly increased plant biomass and the accumulation of Pb and Cd compared to control conditions. Detailed physiological analyses demonstrated enhanced heavy metal absorption in roots under nitrogen fertilization. Microbial community analysis further indicated that nitrogen application altered rhizosphere microbial activity, particularly enriching bacterial taxa associated with metal mobilization. Metabolomic profiling corroborated improvements in soil quality, showing significant changes in organic acid metabolites involved in metal chelation. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms by which nitrogen fertilization synergistically enhances both the growth of S. matsudana and the efficiency of soil remediation, offering valuable guidance for optimizing phytoremediation strategies in heavy metal-contaminated environments.
Keywords: Salix matsudana, Phytoremediation, nitrogen fertilization, Rhizosphere microorganism, metabolomic
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 26 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Niu, Huang, DI, Su, Yuan, Wu and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dazhuang Huang, College of Landscape Architecture and Tourism, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, China
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