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Potential rates of denitrification in two field soils in southern England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

M. M. Iqbal
M. M. Iqbal
Affiliation:
Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Tarnab, Peshawar, Pakistan
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Summary

Potential rates of denitrification from two field soils, differing in past history, were measured by anaerobic incubation of fresh samples in a glasshouse maintained at 15–25 °C at ARC Letcombe Laboratory, Wantage, Oxfordshire in 1981. Nitrate was not limiting. The topsoils (0–20 cm) from both sites denitrified more than the subsoils (20–60 cm). The production of nitrous oxide was positively correlated with the carbon content of the soils while potential rates of denitrification in the two soils were similar. The total accumulated loss of nitrogen was greater from the soil with the greater organic carbon content. The use of acetylene showed that the denitrification losses were underestimated by measuring only nitrous oxide. N2O was still being reduced to N2 even after 100 h continuous exposure to acetylene.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 118 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 223 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

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