REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Community Dynamics in Agroecosystems: From Disease Suppression to Soil HealthView all 11 articles
Enhancing biological nitrogen fixation in rice paddy ecosystems: challenges, opportunities, and sustainable strategies
Provisionally accepted
- Suzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Suzhou, China
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Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers have substantially increased rice (Oryza sativa) yields but at the expense of low N use efficiency, significant environmental losses, and deterioration of soil health. Biological N fixation (BNF) offers a sustainable and complementary N source, providing a gradual and plant-synchronized N supply that can partially substitute for synthetic N fertilizers. Enhancing BNF in paddy fields to reduce fertilizer inputs has therefore become a topic of considerable scientific and practical interest. This review synthesizes current knowledge of BNF in rice systems, with emphasis on methods for quantifying BNF rates, the ecological and agronomic factors that regulate its magnitude, and the influence of field management practices. It further highlights key challenges, including the inhibitory effects of synthetic N fertilizers on BNF, that constrain the full realization of BNF potential. And it proposes possible solutions such as straw incorporation, the selection and cultivation of ammonium-tolerant diazotrophs, and the application of genetic engineering to develop ammonium-excreting N-fixing bacteria. Collectively, these insights provide a foundation for advancing low-input and environmentally sustainable rice production systems.
Keywords: 15N₂ labeling, biological nitrogen fixation, diazotrophs, Rice paddy ecosystems, Sustainableagriculture
Received: 28 Sep 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhang, Wang and Chen. 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: Peifeng Chen
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