Abstract
Plant material labeled with 15N is often used to determine recovery of N from green manure crops by subsequent crops. In this study, 15N enriched crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) was grown at a field site where it was to be utilized in a subsequent experiment. A foliar spray of (NH4)2SO4 (99 atom % excess 15N) was applied to a 1.2 m × 8.8 m plot of crimson clover at a rate of 10 kg N ha−1 in early March 1990, immediately prior to the period of rapid vegetative growth. Clover shoots harvested in April contained 1.72 atom % excess 15N. Total N concentration of enriched clover was similar to that in adjacent untreated clover. Clover shoots contained 20% of the applied 15N, and an additional 27% was recovered from the surface soil horizon (0 to 15 cm). A gradient was observed across the plot, with clover enrichment increasing from 1.3 to 2.2 atom % excess 15N. Recovery of applied 15N in soil was highest in the subplots with lowest clover enrichment. Variability in 15N enrichment was also observed among plant parts: leaves from the basal half of shoots had 2.2 atom % excess 15N; while leaves from the terminal half of shoots, terminal stems, and basal stems had between 1.1 and 1.4 atom % excess 15N.
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Abbreviations
- %Ndf source:
-
the percentage of the N atoms in a sample derived from a labeled source
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Crozier, C.R., King, L.D. & Volk, R.J. Variation in 15N enrichment of crimson clover labeled under field conditions. Plant Soil 152, 255–260 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029095
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029095