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Availability of Nitrogen to Sudangrass from Ammonium-Saturated Clinoptilolite¹

ABSTRACT

Clinoptilolite, a zeolite and a highly selective exchanger for ammonium ions, was evaluated as an ammonium fertilizer carrier. Mill-run clinoptilolite from Buckhorn, N. Mex., was ammonium-saturated, then added to Flanagan (Aquic argiudoll; fine, montmorillonitic, mesic) and Cisne (Mollic albaqualf; fine, montmorillonitic, mesic) silt loam soils at levels of 0.15, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.50% zeolite by weight equivalent to fertilization rates of 71, 236, 353, and 706 mg N/pot, respectively. These amendments amount to additions of 24, 79, 110, and 235 mg N/kg soil. Flanagan and Cisne soils represent high and low native productivities, respectively. Sudangrass (Sorghum sudanese cv. Trudan II) was grown in replicated greenhouse trials and six cuttings were made over a period of 242 d. Significant positive-treatment effects were observed for yields and nitrogen contents of the third through sixth cuttings from the amended Flanagan soil. For all cuttings from the Cisne soil, NH₄-saturated clinoptilolite significantly increased yields and nitrogen contents. Nitrogen recovery in a comparison treatment of (NH₄)₂SO₄ at 236 mg N/pot with N-bearing clinoptilolite at the same N level was greater for zeolitetreated Cisne silt loam, however, recoveries were similar for the two treatments on Flanagan silt loam.

¹ Contribution from the Dep. of Agronomy, 1102 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, and conducted under Hatch Project no. 316 of the Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Presented in part before The Clay Minerals Society, Bloomington, Ind. October 1978, and Div. S-9, Soil Science Society of America, Chicago, December 1978.

² Former Graduate Research Assistant and Professor, respectively. Senior Author is currently Assistant Chemist, Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources, State Geological Survey Division, 615 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.

Received for publication August 31, 1981. Accepted for publication November 8, 1982.