Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-5lx2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T14:12:49.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effects of Several Herbicides on Nitrification in a Field Soil Under Laboratory Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

M. G. Hale ,
F. H. Hulcher  and
W. E. Chappell
Get access

Extract

The process of biological nitrification in soil is a two-step oxidation of the ammonium ion to nitrite and thence to nitrate and is largely caused by the autotrophic bacteria in the genera Nitrosococcus, Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. The biochemical activities of these soil microorganisms can be studied by using the percolation technique of Lees. When studying the nitrifying organisms, an ammonium salt solution is bubbled under air pressure through a lift tube to the surface of a soil sample in a suitable container from whence it percolates downward through the soil and drains back into the reservoir from which it came. Air and moisture are thus constantly replenished in the soil and water logging is avoided. The value of the method lies in the fact that any substance introduced into the percolating fluid which affects the metabolism of the nitrifying organisms causes a change in the rate of conversion of the ammonium ions to nitrate ions. When the nitrate in the percolating fluid is in equilibrium with the nitrate in the soil, measurements of the nitrate nitrogen in aliquots of the percolating fluid are a measure of the rate of nitrification in the soil.

Type
Research Article
Information
Weeds , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , October 1957 , pp. 331 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © 1957 Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Aldrich, R. J. Residues in soil. Symposium on the formation and action of herbicides. Jour. Agric. and Food Chem. 1:257–260. 1953.Google Scholar
2. Anderson, W. P., Linder, P. J., and Mitchell, J. W. Evaporation of some plant growth regulators and its possible effect on their activity. Science 116:502–503. 1952.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Blumenthal, H. J., Kaffler, H., and Goldschmidt, E. P. The rate of endogenous respiration as affected by oxidation of exogenous substrates. Science 116:475–477. 1952.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Chappell, W. E., and Miller, L. I. The effects of certain herbicides on plant pathogens. Plant Disease Reporter 40:52–56. 1956.Google Scholar
5. Gamble, S. J., Mayhew, C. J., and Chappell, W. E. Respiration rates and plate counts for determining the effect of herbicides on the heterotrophic soil microorganisms. Soil Science 74:347–350. 1952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Kratochvil, D. E. Determination of the effect of several herbicides on soil microorganisms. Weeds 1:25–31. 1951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Lees, H. A simple automatic percolator. Jour. Agric. 37:27. 1947.Google Scholar
8. Lees, H. The soil percolation technique. Plant and Soil 1:221. 1949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Lees, H., and Quastel, J. H. The site of soil nitrification. Biochem. Jour. 40:815–823. 1946.Google Scholar
10. Magee, L. A., and Colmer, A. R. Some effects of 2,4–dichlorophenoxy acetic acid upon Azotobacter as measured by respiration inhibition. Weeds 4:124–130. 1956.Google Scholar
11. Moses, V., and Syrett, P. J. The endogenous respiration of microorganisms. Jour. Bact. 70:201–204. 1955.Google ScholarPubMed
12. Newman, A. S., DeRose, H. R., and DeRigo, H. T. Persistence of isopropyl–n–phenyl carbamate in soils. Soil Science 66:393. 1948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Quastel, J. H., and Scholefield, P. G. Biochemistry and nitrification in soil. Bact. Rev. 15:1–53. 1951.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Russell, J. O., Jones, E. G., and Bobbitt, G. M. Temperature and moisture factors in nitrate production. Soil Science 19:381–398. 1925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Stevens, L. F., and Carlson, R. F. Effects of Chloro IPC on various crops and its residual properties in various soils. Proc. NEWCC pp. 33–44. 1952.Google Scholar
16. Umbreit, W. W., Burris, R. H., and Stauffer, J. F. Manometric techniques and tissue metabolism. Burgess Pub. Co., Minn. 1951.Google Scholar