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Nitrogen Mineralization in Profiles of Differently Managed Soil Types
Author(s) -
Hadas Aviva,
Feigenbaum Sala,
Feigin A.,
Portnoy Rita
Publication year - 1986
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/sssaj1986.03615995005000020012x
Subject(s) - mineralization (soil science) , nitrification , soil water , nitrogen , soil science , nitrogen cycle , ammonium , incubation , soil horizon , chemistry , environmental chemistry , mineralogy , environmental science , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Nitrogen mineralization kinetics and relations between potentially mineralizable N and chemical availability indices have been studied mainly in surface soils. In this study, the rate of mineralization was measured, by incubation techniques, in various soil types and soil depths, in order to evaluate the contribution of different soil layers to mineral nitrogen (N) of the whole root zone and to relate the rate parameters obtained to various soil N fractions. Soil layers of 60 to 120 or 160 cm contributed about 30% of the N mineralized in the whole soil profile. Ammonium accumulated and its nitrification was delayed in deeper soil layers of several profiles. Several rate equations were fitted to the experimental data. The first order rate constant varied from 0.02 to 0.10 week −1 , without any consistent trend. Similar random variations of rate parameters were observed in other models with two or more parameters. The potentially mineralizable N (N o ) of one‐parameter models was highly and better correlated with the amount actually mineralized in 32 weeks of incubation and with various N forms in soil than the N o obtained from two‐parameter models. Total N weighted with respect to soil layer depth was the best estimate of N mineralized in soil profiles.