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Denitrification Kinetics in Soil Systems: The Significance of Good Fits of Data to Mathematical Forms¹

ABSTRACT

The loss of NO₃^- added to two central Illinois soils was determined in experiments in which the soils were incubated under waterlogged conditions. The loss was measured as a function of substrate concentration in one experiment in which samples were incubated for a single time (24 hours) and as a function of time in a second experiment in which the concentration of the added NO₃^- was held constant (200 ppm NO₃^--N). The rate of loss of NO₃^- was about 5.5 times higher in one of the soils than in the other. This difference was largely overcome by the addition of glucose (1% with respect to the soil) which also greatly enhanced the rate of denitrification in both soils.

The experimental points representing the rate of NO₃^- loss plotted as a function of the concentration of added NO₃^-, were equally well fit by Michaelis-Menten and exponential equations as well as by the solution to a pair of nonlinear differential equations representing a system in which the product of one reaction (e.g., the reductant generated by the oxidation of carbon compounds) is a substrate in a second sequence (e.g., the denitrification of NO₃^-). The significance of such fits is discussed. The authors point out that while such fits have certain uses, it is not possible to infer from them the mechanism of the reaction.

¹ This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under the project no., GI-39009.

² Associate Professor of the Dep. of Biology and Senior Fellow of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS), Washington Univ., St. Louis, Mo 63130; Research Associate, CBNS; Research Associate, CBNS; and, Research Associate, CBNS, respectively. The present address of S. H. Chien is, Int Fert. Develop. Ctr., 402 First Federal Bldg., Muscle Shoals, AL 25660

Received for publication September 8, 1975. Accepted for publication December 4, 1975.

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