Soil Organic N Forms and N Supply as Affected by Fertilization Under Intensive Rice Cropping System

Changes of soil organic nitrogen forms and soil nitrogen supply under continuous rice cropping system were investigated in a long-term fertilization experiment in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China. The fertilizer treatments included combination of P-K, N-K, N-P, and N-P-K as well as the control. After six years of continuous double-rice cropping, total soil N and hydrolysable N contents remained stable in plots with N treatments, while the hydrolysable N contents were substantially reduced in those plots without N application. Compared to the unbalanced fertilization treatments, P and K increased the percentage of hydrolysable ammonium N in the total soil N with the balanced application of N, and also maintained higher rice grain yields and nitrogen uptake. Grain yield was positively correlated with total N uptake (r = 0.875**), hydrolysable N (r = 0.608**), hydrolysable ammonium N (r = 0.560**) and the hydrolysable unknown N (r = 0.417**). Total N uptake was positively correlated with hydrolysable N (r = 0.608**), hydrolysable ammonium N (r = 0.440**) and hydrolysable unknown N (r = 0.431**). Soil nutrient depletion and/or unbalanced fertilization to rice crop reduced N content in soil microbial biomass, and therefore increased C/N ratio, suggesting a negative effect on the total microbial biomass in the soil.

Effect of Fertilizer N Forms on Physiological Metabolism and Potassium Uptake of Flue-Cured Tobacco

The growth, chlorophyll composition, photosynthesis, respiration, K uptake and root K+ secretion offlue-cured tobacco as thected by different concentrations of N supplied as urea, NaNO3 and NH4NO3 werestudied under the experimental condition of sand culture. The results showed that the content of K in thefiue-cured tobacco was not merely related with root vitality and uptake but also closely related with root cellmembrane structure and K+ secretion.

Effects of N Forms and Rates on Vegetable Growth and Nitrate Accumulation

Experiments were carried out on a vegetable field with Peking cabbage(Brassica pekinensis (Lour.) Rupr.), cabbage (Brassica, chinensis var. oleifcra Makino and nemoto),green cabbage (Brassica chinensis L.), spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) and rape(Brassica campestrisL.) to study the effects of N forms and N rates on their growth and nitrate accumulation. Theresults indicated that application of ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate, sodium nitrate and ureasignificantly increased the yields and nitrate concentrations of Peking cabbage and spinach.Although no significant difference was found in the yields after application of the 4 N forms,nitrate N increased nitrate accumulation in vegetables much more than ammonium N. The vegetableyields were not increased continuously with N rate increase, and oversupply of N reduced the plantgrowth, leading to a yield decline. This trend was also true for nitrate concentrations in somevegetables and at some sampling times. However, as a whole, the nitrate concentrations in vegetableswere positively correlated with N rates. Thus, addition of N fertilizer to soil was the major causefor increases in nitrate concentrations in vegetables. Nitrate concentrations were much higher inroots, stems and petioles than in blades at any N rate.

^(15)N NMR Spectroscopic Study on Nitrogen Forms in Humic Substances of Soils

Nitrogen forms of humic substances from a subalpine meadow soil, a latentic red soil and a weathered coal and the effect of acid hydrolysis on N structures of soil humic substances were studied by using 15N cross-polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (CPMAS NMR) spectroscopy. Of the detectable 15N-signal intensity in the spectra of soil humic substances 71%-79% may be attributed to amide groups, 10%-18% to aromatic/aliphatic amines and 6%~11% to indole- and pyrrole-like N. Whereas in the spectrum of the fulvic acid from weathered coal 46%, at least, of the total 15N-signal intensity might be assigned to pyrrole-like N, 14% to aromatic/aliphatic ammes, and the remaining intensities could not be assigned with certainty. Data on nonhydrolyzable residue of protein-sugar mixture and a 15N-labelled soil fulvic acid confirm the formation of nonhydrolyzable heterocyclic N during acid hydrolysis. Project (No. 39790100) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Characterization of Humic Fractions in a ^(15)N-labelled Soil by Solid-State ^(13)C and ^(15)N NMR

Five humic fractions were obtained from a uniformly 15N-labelled soil by extraction with 0.1 mol L-1 Na4P207, 0.1 mol L-1 NaOH, and HF/HCI-0.1 mol L-1 NaOH, consecutively, and analyzed by 13C and 15N CPMAS NMR (cross polarization and magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance). Compared with those of native soils humic fractions studied as a whole contained more alkyls, methoxyls and O-alkyls, being 27%-36%, 17%-21% and 36%-40%, respectively, but fewer aromatics and carboxyls (being 14%-20% and 13%-90%, respectively). Among those humic fractions, the humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) extracted by 0.1 mol L-1 Na4P207 contained slightly more carboxyls than corresponding humic fractions extracted by 0.1 mol L-1 NaOH, and the HA extracted by 0.1 mol L-1 NaOH after treatment with HF/HCI contained the least aromatics and carboxyls. The distribution of nitrogen functional groups of soil humic fractions studied was quite similar to each other and also quite similar to that of humic fraction from native soils. More than 75% of total N in each fraction was in amide form, with 9%-13% present as aromatic and/or aliphatic amines and the remainder as hoterocyclic N.

An XPS Study of Nitrogen Structures in Soil Humic Substances

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was applied to examine the N structures of soil humic substances and some of their analogues. It was found that for soil humic substances XPS method gave similar results as those obtained by 15N CPMAS NMR (cross-polarization magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance) method. 70%～86% of total N in soil humic substances was in the form of amide, and 6%～13% was presented as amines, with the remaining part as heterocyclic N. There was no difference in the distribution of the forms of N between the humic substances from soils formed over hundreds or thousands of years and the newly formed ones. For fulvic acid from weathered coal and benzoqu inone- (N H-4 )-2 S O-4 polymer the XPS results deviated significantly from the 15N CPMAS NMR data.

Litter decomposition and C and N dynamics as affected by N additions in a semi-arid temperate steppe, Inner Mongolia of China

Litter decomposition is the fundamental process in nutrient cycling and soil carbon（C） sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. The global-wide increase in nitrogen（N） inputs is expected to alter litter decomposition and,ultimately, affect ecosystem C storage and nutrient status. Temperate grassland ecosystems in China are usually N-deficient and particularly sensitive to the changes in exogenous N additions. In this paper, we conducted a 1,200-day in situ experiment in a typical semi-arid temperate steppe in Inner Mongolia to investigate the litter decomposition as well as the dynamics of litter C and N concentrations under three N addition levels（low N with 50 kg N/（hm2？a）（LN）, medium N with 100 kg N/（hm2？a）（MN）, and high N with 200 kg N/（hm2？a）（HN）） and three N addition forms（ammonium-N-based with 100 kg N/（hm2？a） as ammonium sulfate（AS）, nitrate-N-based with 100 kg N/（hm2？a） as sodium nitrate（SN）, and mixed-N-based with 100 kg N/（hm2？a） as calcium ammonium nitrate（CAN）） compared to control with no N addition（CK）. The results indicated that the litter mass remaining in all N treatments exhibited a similar decomposition pattern： fast decomposition within the initial 120 days, followed by a relatively slow decomposition in the remaining observation period（120–1,200 days）. The decomposition pattern in each treatment was fitted well in two split-phase models, namely, a single exponential decay model in phase I（〈398 days） and a linear decay function in phase II（≥398 days）. The three N addition levels exerted insignificant effects on litter decomposition in the early stages（〈398 days, phase I; P〉0.05）. However, MN and HN treatments inhibited litter mass loss after 398 and 746 days, respectively（P〈0.05）. AS and SN treatments exerted similar effects on litter mass remaining during the entire decomposition period（P〉0.05）. The effects of these two N addition forms differed greatly from those of CAN after 746 and 1,053 days, respectively（P〈0.05）. During the decomposition period, N concentrations in the decomposing litter increased whereas C concentrations decreased, which also led to an exponential decrease in litter C：N ratios in all treatments. No significant effects were induced by N addition levels and forms on litter C and N concentrations（P〉0.05）. Our results indicated that exogenous N additions could exhibit neutral or inhibitory effects on litter decomposition, and the inhibitory effects of N additions on litter decomposition in the final decay stages are not caused by the changes in the chemical qualities of the litter, such as endogenous N and C concentrations. These results will provide an important data basis for the simulation and prediction of C cycle processes in future N-deposition scenarios.

Covers with Less than 10 Moduli and Their Applications

In this paper we essentially determine all covers {a s (mod n s)} k s=1 of Z with k<10 , actually our algorithm is valid for any positive integer k . As an application we provide a somewhat general theorem on (infinite) arithmetic progressions (e.g. 1330319+346729110 Z) consisting of odd integers no term of which can be expressed as the sum of a power of two and an odd prime, on the other hand we obtain an interesting result on integers of the form 2 n+cp where c is a constant and p is a prime.

Influence of ammonium and nitrate supply on growth, nitrate reductase activity and N-use efficiency in a natural hybrid pine and its parents

Selection of tree species with a high capacity to assimilate N and efficiently utilize N resources would facilitate the success of initial tree seedling establishment in infertile soils.The preference for N forms was tested using three pine species(Pinus densata,Pinus tabuliformis and Pinus yunnanensis).Pinus densata is a natural diploid hybrid between P.tabuliformis and P.yunnanensis.Methods Seedlings of three pine species were supplied with nitrate-N,ammonium-N(at two different pH regimes)or combined ammonium and nitrate as a nitrogen source in perlite culture in a controlled environment.Important Findings Seedlings of P.densata had higher total biomass and net photosynthesis when supplied with nitrate-N and ammonium nitrate than with ammonium-N.In parental species,total biomass and net photosynthesis for P.yunnanensis seedlings was higher in ammonium-N than in nitrate-N,whereas the other parental species P.tabuliformis had the highest total biomass among species for all treatments except ammonium with CaCO_(3).Most morphological traits in P.densata seedlings were intermediate between its two parental species.However,N-use efficiency and photosynthetic N-use efficiency of P.densata significantly exceeded both parents when supplied with nitrate-N and ammonium nitrate.The results suggested that the diploid hybrid tree species P.densata has a preference for nitrate and is not well adapted to ammonium-N as a sole nitrogen source regardless of the growth medium pH.Based on changes in environmental conditions,such as predicted future temperature increases in high altitude areas associated with climate change,P.densata is likely to be increasingly competitive and have wide adaptation in high altitude regions.