The quality of straw affects N release after straw retention. As straw with high C： N ratio could result in N immobilization, additional N is needed to compensate N demand of crops. However, more and more N fertilizers have been applied to the soil to improve crop yields in China, which not only increases production cost but also reduces soil quality. Therefore, reasonable application of N fertilizer becomes a key problem after straw retention. This study aimed to assess the effects of applying maize straw with high quality alfalfa straw on mineral N content, microbial biomass and enzyme activity under controlled conditions. The effect of applying maize straw with alfalfa straw was compared with that of maize straw in combination with N fertilizer under the same C： N ratio （25：1）. The laboratory incubation experiment consisted of four treatments： （1） soil with no addition （CK）; （2） soil amended with maize straw （M）; （3） soil amended with alfalfa straw and maize straw with an adjusted C： N ratio of 25：1 （MM）; （4） soil amended with inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and maize straw with an adjusted C：N ratio of 25：1 （MF）. The results showed that application of maize straw leaded to an N immobilization during the 270 d of incubation. Combined application of alfalfa and maize straw and or mineral N fertilizer alleviates the N immobilization and increase soil mineral N content. Compared to MF treatment, MM treatment prolonged N availability during the incubation. MM and MF treatments increased the soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen contents, and soil invertase and β-glycosidase activities. There was no difference between MM and M treatment in soil urease activity. MF treatment had significantly negative influence on soil urease activity compared with M treatment. The amount of added N significantly affected mineral N content, soil microbial biomass and enzyme activity. The mixture of alfalfa straw and maize straw sustains higher level of mineral N content, microb
Root zone N management can reduce N fertilizer input and avoid nitrate pollution in greenhouse tomato production; however, little information is available on how reduced N affects soil microbes, especially dominant bacteria populations in long-term continuous greenhouse systems. This study investigated the effects of different combinations of N and straw on the population size of soil total bacteria and two dominant bacteria （Pseudomonas spp. andBacilusspp.）, and microbial community structure in a 6-year greenhouse tomato trial. The treatments were basal fertilizer （10 t ha-1 chicken manure; control）, conventional high N treatment [600 kg N ha-1], conventional high N treatment with wheat straw, reduced N treatment [300 kg N ha-1 less than conventional], and reduced N treatment with wheat straw. Six years of reduced mineral N fertilization did not lead to a decrease in fruit yield. Both mineral N fertilizer and straw increased the numbers of soil bacteria （Bacilus spp. andPseudomonas spp.） compared with the control, but the numbers were not affected by the amount of mineral N fertilizer （highvs reduced）. Different denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis patterns were evidence that soil bacterial communities were changed by N treatments and straw application, but little difference in bacterial diversity was detected between high N and reduced N treatments. These results indicated that a reduction in N fertilizer input was possible in greenhouse tomato production and was beneifcial in sustainable agriculture.
