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Biological interactions between soil nitrogen and alkaline-hydrolysing nitrogen fertilizers

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Abstract

Added N interactions were measured in four soil incubated with 15N-labelled urea or diammonium phosphate. The use of biologically active, γ-irradiated, or reinoculated γ-irradiated samples allowed us to separate added N interactions due to chemical and biological processes, and to distinguish real interactions from apparent effects. Real biologically mediated added N interactions were observed in one soil for both fertilizer sources and in three soils amended with urea. These real interactions increased with the N fertilizer rate, but did not differ significantly between N sources. Fertilizer-induced unlabelled organic N in soil extracts declined during incubation in both sterile and non-sterile samples, but the temporal decline was higher in biologically active soil. Changes in fertilizer-induced unlabelled organic N in the extracts of three soils attributed to biological processes were similar to the measured real biologically mediated added N interactions. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that real biologically mediated added N interactions arise from the mineralization of soil organic N solubilized by alkaline-hydrolysing N fertilizers.

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  1. Department of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, 3052, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    S. Sen & P. M. Chalk

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  1. S. Sen
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  2. P. M. Chalk
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Sen, S., Chalk, P.M. Biological interactions between soil nitrogen and alkaline-hydrolysing nitrogen fertilizers. Biol Fert Soils 20, 41–48 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00307839

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