Mitrification－Denitrification Lossof Added Nitrogenin Flooded Rice Rhizosphere

Nitrification-denitrification losses of ￣15N-labelled nitrate and ammonium applied to the rhizosphere andnonrhizosphere of flooded rice were evaluated in 2 greenhouse rhizobox experiments. The loss of added Nvia denitrification was estimated directly by measuring the total fluxes of (N_2O+N_2)￣15N. It was found that 67% and51%-56% of ￣15N-nitrate added to rice rhizosphere were lost as (N_2O+N_)-￣15N in the 2 experiments, respectively,which were comparable to that added to nonrhizosphere soil (70%and47%, respectively), implying that tbedenitrifying activity in rice rhizosphere was as high as that in nonrhizosphere soil. However, only trace amounts(0-0.3% of added N) were recovered as (N_2O+N_2)-￣15N when ￣15N-ammonium was applied to either rhizosphere ornonrhizosphere, which seems to indicate that the nitrifying activity in the either rhizosphere or nonrhizosphere soilswas quite low. The apparent denitrification calculated from ￣15N balance studies was 10%-47% higher than the totalflux of (N_2O+N_2)-￣15N. Reasons for the large differences can not be explained satisfactorily. Though the denitrifyingactivity in rhizospbere was high and comparable to that in nonrhizosphere soil, presumably due to the low nitrifyingactivity and/ or the strong competition of N uptake against denitrification, the nitrification-denitrification takingplace in rhizosphere could not be an important mechanism of loss of ammonium N in flooded rice-soil system.

Fertilizer nitrogen loss via N_2 emission from calcareous soil following basal urea application of winter wheat

The ratio of nitrous oxide(N2O)to N2O plus nitrogen gas(N2)emitted from soils(N2O/(N2O+N2))is regarded as a key parameter for estimating fertilizer nitrogen(N)loss via N2emission at local,regional or global scales.However,reliable measurement of soil N2emissions is still difficult in fertilized soil-crop systems.In this study,the N loss via N2emission following basal urea application(with a dose of 150 kg N ha-1)to a calcareous soil cultivated with winter wheat was quantified using the helium-based gas-flow-soil-core technique.Emissions of N2and N2O from sampled fresh soils were measured under simulated field soil temperature and oxygen conditions.Our observation performed on the first day after irrigation and rainfall events showed the highest N2and N2O emissions,which amounted to approximately 11.8 and 3.8μg N h-1kg-1dry soil,corresponding to 3304 and 1064μg N m-2h-1,respectively.The N2O/(N2O+N2)molar ratios within about 10 days following fertilization ranged from 0.07 to 0.25,which were much larger than those at the other time.During the one-month experimental period,the urea-N loss via emissions of N2,N2O,and N2+N2O was 1.6%,0.6%,and 2.2%,respectively.Our study confirms that the widely applied acetylene-inhibition method substantially underestimates fertilizer N losses via N2emissions from calcareous soils cultivated with winter wheat.