Root exudates increase N availability by stimulating microbial turnover of fast-cycling N pools

•Evidence for a mechanistic link between root exudation and accelerated N cycling.•Exudate additions enhanced fast-cycling N degrading enzyme activities.•Additions of fast-cycling N degrading enzymes increased net N mineralization.•Much of the extra N is likely derived from amino acids and amino sugars.•Investment of plants to trigger SOM decomposition is much higher in N-rich soils.

Theory and experiments suggest that rhizodeposition can accelerate N-cycling by stimulating microbial decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM). However, there are remarkably few experimental demonstrations on the degree to which variations in root exudation alter rhizosphere N dynamics in the field. We conducted a series of in situ substrate addition experiments and a modeling exercise to investigate how exudate mimics and enzyme solutions (at varying concentrations) influence rhizosphere SOM and N dynamics in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation (Duke Forest). Exudates were added semi-continuously to unfertilized and fertilized soils in summer and fall; enzymes were added during the following summer. Exudate additions enhanced the microbial biomass specific activities of enzymes that degrade fast-cycling N pools (i.e., amino acids and amino sugars), and increased microbial allocation to N-degrading compounds. More, such effects occurred at low exudate concentrations in unfertilized soil and at higher concentrations in fertilized soil. Direct additions of a subset of enzymes (amino sugar- and cellulose-degrading) to soils increased net N mineralization rates, but additions of enzymes that cleave slow-cycling SOM did not. We conclude that exudates can stimulate microbes to decompose labile SOM and release N without concomitant changes in microbial biomass, yet the investment of plants to trigger this effect may be greater in N-rich soils.