ISSN:
1573-5036
Keywords:
ammonium
;
field
;
kiwifruit
;
15N
;
nitrogen fertilizer
;
recovery
;
soil nitrogen
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Abstract The fate of 15N-labelled ammonium fertilizer applied once to six-year-old field-grown kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa ‘Hayward’) vines was measured over three years. The three main treatments were nitrogen (N) applied singularly at 100 or 200 kg N ha−1 in early spring (two weeks before bud burst) or split with 100 kg N ha−1 (unlabelled) in early spring and 100 kg N ha−1 (15N-labelled) ten weeks later. All N treatments were applied to vines with a history of either 50 or 200 kg N ha−1 yr−1. For three years after 15n application, components of the vines and soil (0–600 mm depth) were sampled at harvest in late autumn and the N and 15N contents determined. By the first harvest, all plant uptake of 15N had occurred and this represented 48–53% of the 15N applied. There was no significant effect of current N fertilizer treatment or of N history on 15N recovery by vines. Removal of 15N in harvested fruit was small at 5–6% in the first year and 8% over 3 years. After 2–3 years, most plant 15N occurred in the roots and this component declined only slowly over time. In contrast, there was a large temporal decline in 15N in above-ground plant components due to the annual ‘removal’ in leaf fall and pruning. An associated experiment showed that when 15N-labelled prunings and leaves were mulched and returned to the soil, only about 9% was recovered by plants within 2 years. Almost all remaining mulched material had been immobilised into the soil organic N. In all treatments, about 20% of the added 15N remained in soil at the first harvest. This was almost entirely in organic fractions (〈0.4% in inorganic N) and mostly in the surface 150-mm layer. The 15N content in soil changed little over time (from 20 to 17% between the first and third harvests respectively) and indicated that most of the N had been immobilised into stable humus forms.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00009370
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