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Gaseous Nitrogen Emissions and Mineral Nitrogen Transformations as Affected by Reclaimed Effluent Application
Author(s) -
Master Y.,
Laughlin R. J.,
Shavit U.,
Stevens R. J.,
Shaviv A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2003.1204
Subject(s) - effluent , soil water , lysimeter , reclaimed water , irrigation , denitrification , environmental science , nitrification , fertilizer , nitrogen , water content , agronomy , moisture , environmental chemistry , chemistry , environmental engineering , soil science , wastewater , organic chemistry , biology , geotechnical engineering , engineering
Irrigation with reclaimed effluent (RE) is essential in arid and semiarid regions. Reclaimed effluent has the potential to stimulate gaseous N losses and affect other soil N processes. No direct measurements of the N 2 and N 2 O emissions from Mediterranean soils have been conducted so far. We used the 15 N gas flux method in a field and a laboratory experiment to study the effect of RE irrigation on gaseous N losses and other N transformations in a Grumosol (Chromoxerert) soil. The fluxes of N 2 , N 2 O, and NH 3 were measured from six Grumosol lysimeters following application of either fresh water or RE. The N fertilizer was applied either as 15 NH 4 or 15 NO 3 Only up to 0.3% from the applied N fertilizer was lost as N 2 O + NH 3 Reclaimed effluent enhanced the losses of NH 3 , but did not affect those of N 2 O. Nitrification and denitrification were equally important to N 2 O production. Laboratory incubations were performed to both confirm the influence of the irrigation water type and to test the effect of moisture content. Significant quantities of N 2 and N 2 O (up to 3.1% of the applied fertilizer) were emitted from saturated soils. Reclaimed effluent application did not induce higher N 2 O emissions, yet significantly more (approximately 33%) N 2 was emitted from RE‐irrigated soils. Denitrification contributed up to 75% of the N 2 O amounts emitted from saturated soils. Reclaimed effluent application inhibited nitrification in the Grumosol by 15 to 25% and induced NO 2 accumulation in soils incubated at a field‐capacity moisture content.