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Respiration costs associated with nitrate reduction as estimated by 14CO2 pulse labeling of corn at various growth stages

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Abstract

Utilization of nitrogen in the form of either nitrate (NO −3 ) or ammonium (NH +4 ) ions may affect the carbohydrate metabolism and energy budget of plants. Recent studies showed that greater expenses of NO −3 to NH +4 reduction mostly occur in the roots and during darkness. Fertilization of corn with 15N-labeled nitrate and ammonium, combined with pulse labeling of plants in a 14CO2 atmosphere at the V6 and V8 growth stages, allowed us to evaluate the effect of N form on the CO2 efflux from soil. NH +4 oxidation was inhibited by adding dicyandiamide. In respect to ammonium, nitrate addition increased root-derived CO2 efflux from corn by 2.6 times at stage V6 and by 1.8 times at stage V8. The time of peak 14CO2 efflux from soil also differed between two growing stages: at V6, efflux peaked only on the second day after pulse labeling, while at V8 this occurred within the first 6 h. The strong effect of NO −3 and NH +4 on root respiration requires considering the N form in the soil and the nitrate reduction site location in a plant when modeling soil respiration changes and when separately estimating individual CO2 sources that contribute to the total soil CO2 efflux.

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Abbreviations

V6:

sixth leaf collar stage

V8:

eighth leaf collar stage

SE:

standard error

SOM:

soil organic matter

PVC:

polyvinyl chloride

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Environment and Resources, University of Tuscia, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Olga Gavrichkova

  2. «TORINS» Ltd, Russian Federation, 660036, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

    Olga Gavrichkova

  3. Department of Agroecosystem Research, University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Yakov Kuzyakov

Authors
  1. Olga Gavrichkova
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  2. Yakov Kuzyakov
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Correspondence to Olga Gavrichkova.

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Responsible Editor: Lars S. Jensen.

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Gavrichkova, O., Kuzyakov, Y. Respiration costs associated with nitrate reduction as estimated by 14CO2 pulse labeling of corn at various growth stages. Plant Soil 329, 433–445 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0169-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0169-9

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