Abstract
The effectiveness of wax coated calcium carbide to provide a slow release of acetylene to inhibit nitrification and denitrification in soil was evaluated in a field experiment with irrigated wheat (cv. Condor) grown on a red brown earth in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation Region. The effect of the inhibitor treatments on biomass and grain yield was determined in 25 m × 3 m plots, and the effect on recovery, in the plant-soil system, of urea-N applied at sowing was determined in 0.3 m × 0.3 m microplots using a15N balance technique. The inhibitor limited ammonium oxidation, prevented nitrogen loss by denitrification for 75 days, increased N accumulation by the wheat plants, increased grain N and resulted in a 46% greater recovery of applied nitrogen in the plant-soil system at harvest. However, the inhibitor treatment did not increase grain yield because of waterlogging at the end of tillering and during stem elongation.
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Freney, J.R., Smith, C.J. & Mosier, A.R. Effect of a new nitrification inhibitor (wax coated calcium carbide) on transformations and recovery of fertilizer nitrogen by irrigated wheat. Fertilizer Research 32, 1–11 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054388
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054388