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Factors Affecting Denitrification in a Sonoran Desert Soil
Author(s) -
Westerman R. L.,
Tucker T. C.
Publication year - 1978
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/sssaj1978.03615995004200040012x
Subject(s) - denitrification , water content , moisture , soil water , saturation (graph theory) , environmental chemistry , nitrogen , chemistry , environmental science , nitrogen cycle , agronomy , zoology , soil science , biology , geology , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , organic chemistry , combinatorics
Incubation studies were conducted to determine the effect of temperature, moisture content, organic C, soil depth, and time on transformations of added 15 NO 3 ‐N to a Sonoran Desert soil in open and closed systems. In open system studies, increasing temperature from 20° to 37°C, adding organic C, and increasing moisture content from field capacity to saturation increased denitrification losses 16, 22, and 2%, respectively. There were no apparent differences in immobilization of 15 NO 3 ‐N due to temperature, time, moisture content, or soil depth without organic C amendments. However, immobilization of 15 NO 3 ‐N soils with organic C amendments was increased markedly with increased temperature and time, but initial moisture content had little effect. At C/N ratios of 150:1 only traces of 15 N appeared in NH 4 ‐N, however, at C/N ratios of 15:1 to 45:1 ammonification and immobilization occurred simultaneously. Closed system investigations with organic C and 15 NO 3 ‐N amendments showed 79% loss in 5 days with the remaining 21% accumulating as organic‐ 15 N. Denitrification losses in open systems with soil moisture contents representative of saturated conditions were 70% of the loss observed under closed systems at the same moisture content.