Nitrous oxide and dinitrogen emissions from urine-affected soil under controlled conditions

Abstract

A ¹⁵N labelling technique was used to measure N₂O and N₂ emissions from an undisturbed grassland soil treated with cow urine and held at 30 cm water tension and 20°C in a laboratory. Large emissions of dinitrogen were detected immediately following urine application to pasture. These coincided with a rapid and large increase in soil water-soluble carbon levels, some of this increase being attributed to solubilization of soil organic matter by high pH and ammonia concentrations. Emissions of nitrous oxide generally increased with time in contrast to dinitrogen fluxes which decreased as time progressed. Estimated losses of N₂O and N₂ over a 30 day period were between 1 to 5% and 30 to 65% of the urine N applied plus N mineralized from soil organic matter, respectively. Most of the N₂ and N₂O originated from denitrification with nitrification-denitrification being of minor significance as a source of N₂O. Comparisons of the ¹⁵N enrichments in the soil mineral N pools and the evolved N₂O suggested that much of the N₂O was produced in the 5–8 cm zone of the soil. It is concluded that established grassland soils contain large amounts of readily-oxidizable organic carbon which may be used by soil denitrifying organisms when nitrate is non-limiting and soil redox potential is lowered due to high rates of biological activity and high soil moisture contents. ei]{gnR}{fnMerckx}