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A Direct Field Measurement of Ammonia Emission After Injection of Anhydrous Ammonia
Author(s) -
Denmead O. T.,
Simpson J. R.,
Freney J. R.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1977.03615995004100050039x
Subject(s) - anhydrous , ammonia , sampling (signal processing) , environmental science , chemistry , physics , optics , organic chemistry , detector
Studies of the efficiency of applications of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer require a measurement of ammonia retention or loss at the time of application. Because of sampling problems, conventional measurements based on soil analysis are difficult to make in the field. A new method is described, based on calculating the aerial transport of ammonia across the downwind edge of the treated field from measurements of wind speed, wind direction, and atmospheric ammonia concentration. Ammonia losses as small as 1 kg N/ha can be easily detected. Maximum errors are reckoned at no more than 20%. In a field experiment in which anhydrous ammonia was applied at 107 kg N/ha, aerial sampling gave a loss of 1 kg N/ha. Soil sampling detected no loss because of a large sampling error (SE 15 kg N/ha).