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ABSTRACT
A laboratory study was conducted to establish trends in evolution of dinitrogen (N2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) associated with the wetting and drying of soils and to assess the relative significance of nitrification and denitrification as sources of the N2O evolved from NH+4-fertilized soils. Mass spectrometric procedures were used to analyze atmospheric samples collected each day during a 6-week period from intact soil cores treated with 15N-labeled KNO3 (65.5 atom % 15N) or (NH4)2SO4 (81.4 atom % 15N) at a rate equivalent to 100 kg N ha–1 and periodically treated with water to simulate rainfall. Data reported show that N2 and N2O were evolved only if enough water was applied to increase the soil moisture content to a level above the 0.03-MPa moisture percentage, that these gases were evolved concurrently, that maximal evolution occurred 2 to 9 d after the water had been applied, and that more N2 was usually evolved than N2O. Calculations to determine the origin of the N2 and N2O evolved from the soil cores showed that most (usually 60–80%) of this N2 and N2O was derived from the fertilizer applied, that the percentage of fertilizer-derived N2 and N2O was greater for the NO-3-treated cores than for the NH+4-treated cores, and that the 15N enrichment of the N2O often exceeded that of the N2. The work reported provides support for the usual assumption that N2 and N2O evolved from NH+4-, as well as NO-3, fertilized soils originate largely, if not entirely, through denitrification of NO-3 under anaerobic conditions, and it suggests that evolution of these gases follows an over-all cycle associated with wetting and drying of the soil. Very little, if any, N2 and N2O appears to be evolved when the soil moisture content is well below field capacity. Evolution virtually ceases when the soil is saturated by rainfall, and it subsequently increases as the soil dries, with maximal evolution occurring several days after the rainfall. Evolution then decreases and eventually ceases.
1 This study was a part of Project no. ILLU-15-0392 of the Agric. Exp. Stn., College of Agriculture, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is part of a dissertation submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree.
2 Assistant Professor and Professor Emeritus, respectively, Dep. of Agronomy, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801.
Received for publication July 2, 1983. Accepted for publication January 18, 1984.
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