Abstract
Ammonia volatilization is the major pathway for mineral nitrogen loss in the calcareous soils of the Chinese loess plateau, with maximum losses reaching 50% of the fertilizer-N applied. A volatilization-diffusion experiment was carried out in the laboratory using a forced-draft system and soil columns of 15.5 cm depth. Urea was surface applied at rates of 210 kg N ha-1 to a soil with 10% CaCO3 and a pH of 7.7. The amount of ammonia volatilized as well as the concentration profiles of ammoniacal-nitrogen and soil pH in the upper 50 mm of the soil columns after 4, 7 and 10 days were measured and subsequently modelled. The mechanistic model of Rachhpal-Singh and Nye, originally developed for neutral, non-calcareous soils, was modified to include the pH-buffering action of the soil carbonates. Model parameters were independently determined or taken from the literature. Measured and predicted cumulative NH3 losses agreed very well in the first 10 days following fertilizer application. However, in contrast to the simulations, NH3-volatilization was still proceeding in the experiment even after 13 days, with cumulative losses reaching 60% of the applied N. In addition to the high initial soil pH, the low bulk density and high volumetric air content of the soil columns used for the experiment proved decisive for the high rates of ammonia volatilization, provoking a strong increase in the amount of ammoniacal-N diffusing towards the soil surface as gaseous NH3. The simulations showed that due to the high soil pH, the buffering action of the soil carbonates played a comparatively smaller role.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Avnimelech Y and Laher M 1977 Ammonia volatilization from soils: Equilibrium considerations. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 41, 1080–1084.
Balesdent J, Wagner G H and Mariotti A 1988 Soil organic matter turnover in long term field experiments as revealed by carbon-13 natural abundance. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 52, 118–124.
Ferguson R B, Kissel D E, Koelliker J K and Basel W 1984 Ammonia volatilization from surface-applied urea: Effect of hydrogen ion buffering capacity. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 48, 578–582.
Kirk G J D and Nye P H 1991 A model of ammonia volatilization from applied urea. V. The effects of steady-state drainage and evaporation. VI. The effects of transient-state water evaporation. J. Soil Sci. 42, 103–125.
Millington R J and Quirk J P 1961 Permeability of porous solids. Trans. Faraday Soc. 57, 2200–1207.
Nye P H 1979 Diffusion of ions and uncharged solutes in soils and soil clays. Adv. Agron. 31, 225–272.
Press W H, Teukolsky S A, Vetterling W T and Flannery B P 1992 Numerical recipes in C: The art of scientific computing. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 994 p.
Rachhpal-Singh 1987 Predicting the effect of soil-water-air dynamics on ammonia volatilization from applied urea with a mechanistic model. Fert. Res. 13, 277–285.
Rachhpal-Singh and Nye P H 1986 A model of ammonia volatilization from applied urea. I. Development of the model. II. Experimental testing. III. Sensitivity analysis, mechanisms, and applications. J. Soil Sci. 37, 9–40.
Rees R M, Roelcke M, Li S X, Wang X Q, Li S Q, Stockdale E A, McTaggart I P, Smith K A and Richter J 1996 The effect of fertilizer placement on nitrogen uptake and yield of wheat and maize in Chinese loess soils. Fert. Res. (Submitted).
Roelcke M 1994 Die Ammoniak-Volatilisation nach Ausbringung von Mineraldünger-Stickstoff in carbonatreichen chinesischen Löß-Ackerböden. Ph.D. thesis, Braunschweig Technical University. Göttinger Beiträge zur Land- und Forstwirtschaft in den Tropen und Subtropen, Vol. 92, Erich Goltze, Göttingen, Germany. 194 p.
Sadeghi A M, McInnes K J, Kissel D E, Cabrera M L, Koelliker J K and Kanemasu E T 1988 Mechanistic model for predicting ammonia volatilization from urea. In Ammonia Volatilization from Urea Fertilizers. Eds. B RBock and D EKissel. pp 67–92. Bulletin Y-206, NFDC, Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA.
Silva J A and Bremner J M 1966 Determination and isotope-ratio analysis of different forms of nitrogen in soils: 5. Fixed ammonium. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 30, 587–594.
Thomas G W 1982 Exchangeable cations. In Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. Eds. A LPage, R HMiller and D RKeeney. pp 159–165. Agronomy 9, pp 159–165. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA.
Vlek P L G and Stumpe J M 1978 Effects of solution chemistry and environmental conditions on ammonia volatilization losses from aqueous systems. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 42, 416–421.
United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service (ed.) 1994 Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Sixth Edition.
Zhang S L, Cai G X, Wang X Z, Xu Y H, Zhu Z L and Freney J R 1992 Losses of urea-nitrogen applied to maize grown on calcareous fluvo-aquic soil in North China Plain. Pedosphere 2, 171–178.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roelcke, M., Han, Y., Li, S.X. et al. Laboratory measurements and simulations of ammonia volatilization from urea applied to calcareous Chinese loess soils. Plant Soil 181, 123–129 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011298
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011298