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Cattle slurry application increases soil ecosystem resistance to flooding
Thorn, Camilla Paula, Fabiana S. Brennan, Fiona Abram, Florence
Thorn, Camilla
Paula, Fabiana S.
Brennan, Fiona
Abram, Florence
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Publication Date
2025-07-25
Type
journal article
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Citation
Thorn, Camilla, Paula, Fabiana S., Brennan, Fiona, & Abram, Florence. (2025). Cattle slurry application increases soil ecosystem resistance to flooding. Applied Soil Ecology, 214, 106323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.106323
Abstract
Land-spreading of animal slurry is a means of nutrient recycling and improving soil health. However, it can potentially alter soil ecosystem function and composition, thus representing a disturbance. Increasing incidences of extreme rainfall associated with climate change can compound the effects of such organic amendments on the soil microbial community. Here, we investigated three disturbance combinations (+slurry; +flood; +slurry+flood) and hypothesised that slurry addition would transiently alter the soil microbiome, potentially exacerbated by a subsequent flood, and that stability in the face of a flood would be enhanced by prior slurry addition. Resistance and resilience of microbial community structure (V4 16S rRNA sequencing; Illumina MiSeq) and function (carbon utilisation profiles and rates of respiration, litter decomposition, potential nitrification and potential denitrification) were assessed. Slurry addition increased basal respiration (+175 %), litter degradation (+250 %) and potential nitrification (+60 %) with rapid resilience (<15 days) seen for all functional assays tested excluding potential nitrification rates, which remained 50 % higher for >140 days post-application. Despite little change in soil microbial structure during flooding, we observed >50 % reductions in rates of litter decomposition and in both basal and substrate induced respiration, which were attenuated by a preceding slurry application, during the initial days of the flood. Finally, flooding slowed the rapid die-off of slurry-derived microbiota supporting 4-fold more slurry-taxa 6 days post-application. While slurry-spreading before light rainfall is preferred to reduce ammonia losses, accurate forecasting is vital to avoid application before heavy rainfall which could potentially enhance pathogen survival and transmission along the food chain.
Publisher
Elsevier