Leaching and Transformation of Nitrogen Fertilizers in Soil After Application of N with Irrigation: A Soil Column Method

A soil column method was used to compare the effect of drip fertigation (the application of fertilizer through drip irrigation systems, DFI) on the leaching loss and transformation of urea-N in soil with that of surface fertilization combined with flood irrigation (SFI), and to study the leaching loss and transformation of three kinds of nitrogen fertilizers (nitrate fertilizer, ammonium fertilizer, and urea fertilizer) in two contrasting soils after the fertigation. In comparison to SFI, DFI decreased leaching loss of urea-N from the soil and increased the mineral N (NH4+-N + NO3- -N) in the soil. The N leached from a clay loam soil ranged from 5.7% to 9.6% of the total N added as fertilizer, whereas for a sandy loam soil they ranged between 16.2% and 30.4%. Leaching losses of mineral N were higher when nitrate fertilizer was used compared to urea or ammonium fertilizer. Compared to the control (without urea addition), on the first day when soils were fertigated with urea, there were increases in NH4+-N in the soils. This confirmed the rapid hydrolysis of urea in soil during fertigation. NH4+-N in soils reached a peak about 5 days after fertigation, and due to nitrification it began to decrease at day 10. After applying NH4+-N fertilizer and urea and during the incubation period, the mineral nitrogen in the soil decreased. This may be related to the occurrence of NH4+-N fixation or volatilization in the soil during the fertigation process.

Effect of CO_2 Concentration on Nitrogen Metabolism of Winter Wheat

Hoagland＇s solution was used as water culture medium to study the effect of CO2 concentration on nitrate metabolism of wheat under natural light and light-shaded conditions. NO3^-N, NH4^＋-N, nitrate reductase activity, total uptake N by wheat plants during solution cultural period and total N in plants were determined for comprehensive evaluation of the effect. Results showed that under both natural light and light-shaded conditions, addition of CO2 increased NO3^-N uptake and its assimilative capabilities by plants. However, there were some difference between shoots and roots. With increase of CO2 concentration, the concentration of NO3^-N and NH4^＋-N as well as nitrate reductase activity were all decreased for shoots while the difference was not so distinct in roots, and the nitrate reductase activity was not decreased, but increased. Since NO3^-N uptake by plants from the solution and the total N in plants were much higher by CO2 addition, it may be concluded that addition of CO2 has resulted in rise of nitrate absorption, assimilation and metabolism of wheat.

Soil Organic Nitrogen and Its Contribution to Crop Production

Plant growth and crop production depend to a large extent on soil N supplying capacity （SNSC）： The higher the SNSC, the higher the dependence of crops on soil and the lower the N fertilizer recovery. Of the SNSC, soil organic N （ON） played a key role in supplying N nutrient to crop production and still does in many subsistence and low-input farming systems. In this paper, soil ON contents, types, chemical components and its contribution to plant production are reviewed up to date in details, the characteristics of ON in dryland soils discussed together with its chemical components, and the mineralization and availability to plants of some important chemical components are emphasized at the last part for practical considerations.

Root Function in Nutrient Uptake and Soil Water Effect on NO3^- -N and NH4^+ -N Migration

Root function in uptake of nutrients and the effect of soil water on the transfer and distribution of NO3^--N in arable soil were studied using summer maize （Zea mays L. var. Shandan 9） as a testing crop. Results showed that root growth and water supply had a significant effect on NO3^--N transfer and made NO3^--N distributed evenly from bulk soil to rhizosphere soil. Under a natural condition with irrigation, the difference of NO3^--N concentration at different distance points from a maize plant was smaller, while obvious difference of NO3^--N concentration was observed under conditions of limited root growth space without irrigation. Whether root growth space was restricted or not, the content of soil NO3^--N decreased gradually from 10 to 0 cm from the plant, being opposite to the root absorbing area in soils. When root-grown space was limited, changes of NO3^--N concentration at different distances from a plant were similar to that of water content in tendency. Results showed that NO3^--N could be transferred as solute to plant root systems with water uptake by plants. However, the transfer and distribution of NH4^--N were not influenced by root growth and soil water supply, being different to NO3^--N.

延安旅游气候舒适度和旅游前景分析

利用延安市12县区1981-2018年气象观测资料,计算温湿指数、风效指数和综合舒适指数,分析延安旅游气候舒适度,得出以下结论:延安市舒适旅游期持续时间较长,5-9月是延安市的最适宜旅游期,是开展乡村游、避暑游的最佳时期;4月和10月是较适宜旅游的时期。冬季室外环境温度低,湿度小,开展传统教育和红色旅游时要注重保暖。

Advances in Nitrogen Loss Leached by Precipitation from Plant Canopy

Function of canopy in changing nutrient cycle and flux is one of the focuses in recent years. On the basis of comprehensively appraising published research, we analyzed the nitrogen loss leaching from plant canopy and several factors which affected it. We pointed out the disadvantages of the published researches and the key issues that ought to be solved： （1） The menstruation need to be advanced, and the research should be carried out on nitrogen loss leaching from the canopy of the field plant. （2） If the nitrogen is leached from the plant canopy, the research on the type of nitrogen loss should be carried out, and the nitrogen use efficiency of different varieties should be dealt on a research perspective with regard to the nitrogen leaching. （3） The research should be conducted on the mechanism and pathway, and the progress of nitrogen leaching; and the factors affecting nitrogen leaching should be included in the research, such as the leaf area of different growth stages, stomata densities, stomata conductance, and the apparent free space, which are beneficial to explain the mechanism of nitrogen leaching from the plant canopy.

Estimation of the Biological Methods of Assessing Soil N-Supplying Capacity in Calcareous Soil

Although many biological methods are used to determine soil nitrogen supplying capacity, there are certain differences in the results for different types of soils and various ways of measurement due to the complexity of soil N conformation, the high variance of soil and microorganism, and the difference of environment. Therefore, it is not clear about which biologic incubation method is better for calcareous soil. In this study, pot experiments were performed by using 25 different calcareous surface soil samples on the Loess Plateau and taking the N uptake of wheat and corn with leaching soil initial nitrate and without leaching in pot experiments as the control to investigate the difference of eight biological incubation methods for reflecting soil nitrogen supply capacity. The eight biological methods are waterlogged incubation, aerobic incubation for 2 weeks and for 4 weeks, dry-wet alternation aerobic incubation for 2 weeks, long-term alternate leaching aerobic incubation （and N mineralization potential, No）, short-term leaching aerobic incubation, microbial biomass carbon （Bc）, and microbial biomass nitrogen （BN） method, respectively. Among these methods, the dry-wet alternation aerobic incubation and aerobic incubation for 4 weeks were the modification of the method of aerobic incubation for 2 weeks according to the actual farmland moisture. The results showed that the correlation coefficients between these methods and crop uptake N with leaching soil initial nitrate were 0.530, 0.700, 0.777, 0.768, 0.764 （and 0.790, No）, 0.650, 0.555, and 0.465, respectively （r0.05 = 0.369, r0.0l = 0.505）. While without leaching soil initial nitrate, their coefficients were 0.351, 0.963, 0.962, 0.959, 0.825 （and0.812, No）, 0.963, 0.289, and 0.095, respectively （r0.05 = 0.369, r0.01 = 0.505）. In conclusion, excluding the soil initial nitrate, the correlation coefficients between the eight methods and crop uptake N were, from high to low, N0, aerobic incubation for 4 weeks, dry-wet alternation aerobic incubation for 2 weeks, and long-term alternate leaching aerobic incubation, while including the soil initial nitrate the correlation coefficients between them increased significantly and the values were all beyond 0.950 for these four methods, including aerobic incubation for 2 weeks and for 4 weeks, dry-wet alternation aerobic incubation for 2 weeks and short-term leaching aerobic incubation. The waterlogged incubation method, Bc and BN in the calcareous soil, had lower correlation coefficient with crop uptake nitrogen compared with other methods. Thus, dry-wet alternation aerobic incubation for 2 weeks was a better index for evaluating calcareous soil N supply capacity due to some other methods having disadvantages and not suitable for the actual farmland characteristics.