Premium
Nitrogen Contamination of Soils from Sampling Bags
Author(s) -
Kitchen N. R.,
Sherrod L. A.,
Wood C. W.,
Peterson G. A.,
Westfall D. G
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1990.00021962008200020036x
Subject(s) - loam , soil water , soil test , moisture , contamination , nitrogen , chemistry , extraction (chemistry) , environmental science , environmental chemistry , soil science , chromatography , biology , ecology , organic chemistry
Soil samples can be contaminated with N by storage in bags described by the manufacturer to contain a wax laminated glassine liner (WLG). This study was conducted to compare samples stored in a WLG sample bag and a polyethylene bag (POLY). Sandy and clay loam soils were brought to three different moisture contents representing wet, moist, and dry, approximately 0.20,0.06, and 0.01 kg H 2 0 kg− 1 soil, respectively, and stored in the WLG and POLY sample bags for 12, 48, and 120 h. Sample bags and soils were extracted for NH 4 −N and NO 3 −N with 2 M KCI. Extraction of shredded WLG and POLY bags gave 189.4 and 1.7 mg NH 4 −N kg− 1 bag, and 12.5 and 0.3 mg N0 3 −N kg− 1 bag, respectively. Ammonium‐N concentration increased in both soils (from 4–42 mg N kg− 1 soil) when stored either moist or wet in the WLG bag. The moist clay loam and the wet sandy loam increased 9 and 15 mg NO 3 –N kg− 1 soil, respectively, when stored in the WLG bag for 120 h. The WLG bag should not be used for soil samples. All bags should be checked for N contamination prior to use.