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Microbial contributions to the increased nitrogen mineralization after air-drying of soils

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Abstract

The amounts of mineral-nitrogen (NH4−N+NO3−N) extracted by 2MKCL and the net amounts of N mineralized (δ Min-N) during a 10-day incubation of field-moist soils, air-dried then rewetted samples, and chloroform-fumigated samples, were measured in a range of 20 topsoils from grasslands. Air-drying generally increased extractable-N and the δ Min-N of the remoistened soils, but decreased the Min-N flush after fumigation. The C∶N ratios (CO2−C production: net Min-N production) over 10 days decreased significantly from an average of 25 to 12 after initial air-drying, suggesting that substrates of low C∶N ratio, such as microbial cells, were contributiong to the extra N mineralized after the air-drying treatment. A procedure to quantify the contribution from microbial-N to the increased δ Min-N after air-drying was only partially successful, but indicated a large proportion of this increase was derived from microbial cells killed by desccation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NZ Soil Bureau, DSIR, Private Bag, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

    G. P. Sparling & D. J. Ross

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  1. G. P. Sparling
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  2. D. J. Ross
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Sparling, G.P., Ross, D.J. Microbial contributions to the increased nitrogen mineralization after air-drying of soils. Plant Soil 105, 163–167 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02376779

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02376779

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