Abstract
N fertilizer is often poorly recovered in irrigated cotton production, due to N loss through denitrification. We researched the ability of inhibitors to delay nitrition and reduce the availability of NO3 - to denitrifying microorganisms and thus improve N fertilizer recovery, 2-Ethynylpyridine, etridiazole, and nitrapyrin proved highly effective nitrification inhibitors, although nitrification was evident several weeks after their application. CaC2 was relatively ineffective, even when wax-coated to prolong the evolution of C2H2. Phenylacetylene and ethynylcyclohexanol were also ineffective, despite having a chemical structure similar to 2-ethynylpyridine. A strong association was identified between each compound's ability to inhibit nitrification and its capacity to improve N fertilizer recovery. In one experiment, N fertilizer recovery was increased by ∼50% with 2-ethynylpyridine, etridiazole, or nitrapyrin application, from 33% without inhibitors. The inhibitors had little effect on fertilizer recovery where N losses were relatively small. 3-Methyl pyrazole significantly increased N uptake and lint yield, but the nitrification inhibitors had no significant effect on N uptake or on yield in two of the three of the cotton crops. A laboratory study confirmed that nitrification inhibitor effectiveness declined in the order 2-ethynylpyridine>etridiazole>nitrapyrin>3-methyl pyrazole>phenylacetylene>CaC2>ethynylcyclohexanol
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Banerjee NK, Mosier AR (1989) Coated calcium carbide as a nitrification inhibitor in upland and flooded soils. J Indian Soc Soil Sci 37:306–313
Berg P, Klemedtsson L, Rosswall T (1982) Inhibitory effect of low partial pressures of acetylene on nitrification. Soil Biol Biochem 14:301–303
Bremner JM, Yeomans JC (1986) Effects of nitrification inhibitors on denitrification of nitrate in soil. Biol Fertil Soils 2:173–179
Chen DL, Freney JR, Mosier AR, Chalk PM (1994) Reducing denitrification loss with nitrification inhibitors following presowing applications of urea to a cotton field. Aust J Exp Agric 34:75–83
Constable GA, Rochester IJ, Daniells IG (1992) Cotton yield and N requirement is modified by crop rotation and tillage method. Soil Tillage Res 23:41–59
Freney JR, Smith CJ, Mosier AR (1992) Effect of a new nitrification inhibitor (wax-coated calcium carbide) on transformations and recovery of fertilizer nitrogen by irrigated wheat. Fert Res 32:1–11
Freney JR, Chen DL, Mosier AR, Rochester IJ, Constable GA, Chalk PM (1993) Use of nitrification inhibitors to increase fertilizer nitrogen recovery and lint yield in irrigated cotton. Fert Res 34:37–44
Huber DM, Warren HL, Nelson DW, Tsai CY, Ross MA, Mengel D (1982) Evaluation of nitrification for no-till corn. Soil Sci 134:388–394
Liu SL, Varsa EC, Kapusta G, Mburu DN (1984) Effect of etridiazole and nitrapyrin treated N fertilizers on soil mineral N status and wheat yields. Agron J 76:265–270
Markus DK, McKinnon JP, Buccafuri AF (1985) Automated analysis of nitrite, nitrate and ammonium N in soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 149:1208–1215
Marshall RB, Whiteway JN (1985) Automated analysis a nitrogen analyzer and an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Analyst (London) 110:867–871
McCarty GW, Bremner JM (1986) Inhibition of nitrification in soil by acetylenic compounds. Soil Sci Soc Am J 50:1198–1201
McCarty GW, Bremner JM (1990a) Persistence of effects of nitrification inhibitors added to soils. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 21:639–648
McCarty GW, Bremner JM (1990b) Evaluation of 2-ethynylpyridine as a soil nitrification inhibitor. Soil Sci Soc Am J 54:1017–1021
McElhannon WS, Mills HA (1981) Suppression of denitrification with nitrapyrin. Hort Science 16:530–531
Mikkelsen RL, Jarrell WM, Letey J, Whaley S (1986) Effect of terrazole on nitrogen transformations and movement in irrigated corn. Soil Sci Soc Am J 50:1471–1478
Mills Ha, McElhannon WS (1984) Terrazole suppression of denitrification. Hort Science 19:54–55
Payne RW (1987) Genstat 5 reference manual. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Peoples MB, Faizah AW, Rekasem B, Herridge DF (eds) (1989) Methods for evaluating nitrogen fixation by nodulated legumes in the field. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. James Ferguson Pty Ltd, Hamilton, Queensland
Ratkowski DA (1983) Nonlinear regression modeling. A unified practical approach. Marcel Dekker, New York
Rochester IJ, Gaynor H, Constable GA, Saffigna PG (1994) Etridiazole may conserve applied nitrogen and increase yield of irrigated cotton. Aust J Soil Res 32:1287–1300
Somda ZC, Phatak SC, Mills HA (1990) Nitrapyrin, terrazole, atrazine and simazine influence on denitrification and corn growth. J Plant Nutr 13:1195–1208
Somda ZC, Phatak SC, Mills HA (1991) Influence of biocides on tomato nitrogen uptake and soil nitrification and denitrification. J Plant Nutr 14:1187–1199
Swezey AW, Turner GO (1962) Crop experiments on the effect of 2-chloro-6-(trichloromethyl) pyridine for the control of nitrification of ammonium and urea fertilizers Agron J 54:532–535
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was conducted at Australian Cotton Research Institute, CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Locked Bag 59, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rochester, I., Constable, G. & Saffigna, P. Effective nitrification inhibitors may improve fertilizer recovery in irrigated cotton. Biol Fertil Soils 23, 1–6 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335810
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335810