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Effects of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on soil nitrogen mineralization and immobilization in grassland soil under semiarid climatic conditions

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Abstract

Earlier studies by the authors on English soils under grassland strongly supported their hypothesis that soil/plant systems have naturally evolved to conserve nitrogen (N) by having a close match between the dynamics of mineral-N production in soils and the dynamics of plant N requirements. Thus, maximum mineral-N production in soils occurred in spring when plant N requirements were greatest and were very low in mid to late summer. Low temperature and a high C:N ratio of senescing material helped to conserve N in winter, but mobile N was associated with pollution inputs. We test the hypothesis that under the much more arid conditions of Pakistan, soil/plant systems naturally have evolved to conserve mineral-N, especially over the very dry and cooler months between October and February. When soils from a grassland site were incubated at ambient temperatures after removal of plant roots and exclusion of atmospheric N inputs, there was consistent evidence of immobilization of nitrate and immobilization and possibly volatilization of ammonia/ammonium. In the wetter months of July and August, the soil at 0–10 cm depth showed no evidence of significant ammonium-N production in July and only small ammonium production at 10–20 cm depth in August, but was associated with significant nitrate-N immobilization in August. Nitrate leaching only appeared likely towards the end of the rainy season in September. The results strongly suggest that, under grass, the retention of atmospheric N inputs over the long dry periods is regulating the pools of available N in the soils, rather than the N produced by mineralization of soil organic matter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment Department, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Ambreen Bhatti & Malcolm S. Cresser

  2. Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Jawad Ahmad & Muhammad Qasim

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Allama Iqbal Road, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Riaz

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  1. Ambreen Bhatti
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  2. Jawad Ahmad
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  3. Muhammad Qasim
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  4. Muhammad Riaz
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  5. Malcolm S. Cresser
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Correspondence to Muhammad Riaz.

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Bhatti, A., Ahmad, J., Qasim, M. et al. Effects of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition on soil nitrogen mineralization and immobilization in grassland soil under semiarid climatic conditions. Environ Monit Assess 190, 490 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6865-2

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