ISSN:
1432-0789
Keywords:
δ 15N
;
Elevation
;
Nitrogen fixation
;
Non-nodulating
;
Glycine max
;
Soybeans
;
Isolines
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
,
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Summary Dissimilarities in soil N uptake between N2-fixing and reference non-N2-fixing plants can lead to inaccurate N2 fixation estimates by N difference and 15N enrichment methods. The natural 15N abundance (δ 15N) method relies on a stabilized soil 15N pool and may provide reliable estimates of N2 fixation. Estimates based on the δ 15N and differences in N yield of nodulating and non-nodulating isolines of soybean were compared in this study. Five soybeans from maturity groups 00, IV, VI, and VIII and their respective non-nodulating isolines were grown at three elevations differing in ambient temperature and soil N availability. Despite large differences in phenological development and N yield between the non-nodulating isolines, the δ 15N values measured on seeds were relatively constant within a site. The δ 15N method consistently produced lower N2 fixation estimates than the N difference method, but only in three of the 15 observations did they differ significantly. The average crop N derived from N2 fixation across sites and maturity groups was 81% by N difference compared to 71% by δ 15N. The magnitude of difference between the two methods increased with increasing proportions of N derived from N2 fixation. These differences between the two methods were not related to differences in total N across sites or genotypes. The low N2 fixation estimates based on δ 15N might indicate that the nodulating isolines had assimilated more soil N than the non-nodulating ones. A lower variance indicated that the estimates by N difference using non-nodulating isolines were more precise than those by δ 15N. Since the differences between the estimates were large only at high N2 fixation levels (low soil N availability), either method may be used in most situations when a non-nodulating isoline is used as the reference plant. The δ 15N method may have a comparative advantage over N difference and 15N enrichment methods in the absence of a suitable non-N2-fixing reference plant such as a non-nodulating isoline.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00336422
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