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Variation in the Natural Nitrogen-15 Abundance in Nitrate Mineralized During Incubation of Several Illinois Soils¹

ABSTRACT

Samples of the surface layer of soil (0–30 cm) were collected from five sites in central Illinois. The soils were incubated under controlled conditions for an extended period of time in an effort to determine the ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio of the mineralizable nitrogen.

The results show that the ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio of the nitrate released from the soils tested was approximately constant with time of incubation after about 5 weeks. During the first weeks of incubation, the ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratio of the nitrate released increased from an initially low value in four of the five soils tested. The constant values of ¹⁵N (per mill enrichment) for these soils were about +7.6 to +10. We conclude that these values represent the ¹⁵N enrichment of the mineralizable pool of organic N in these soils which include major soil associations of the central Illinois Corn Belt.

¹ Contribution from the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. Portions of this paper were presented before Div. S-3 of the Soil Science Society of America in Miami Beach, Fla., on Oct. 31, 1972, by Dr. Amos Feigin. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation under project no. GI-29925 XI.

² Research Associate, Center for the Biology of Natural Systems & Soil Scientist, Inst. of Soils & Water, Agr. Res. Organ., Volcani Center, Bet-Dagan, Israel.

³ Associate Professor of Biology and Senior Fellow; Research Associate; and Director, Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. 63130, respectively.

Received for publication June 27, 1973. Accepted for publication October 5, 1973.