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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT & SOIL & PLANT ANALYSIS

Evaluation of Some Indices of Potentially Mineralizable Nitrogen in Soil

^a Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Potato Research Centre, P.O. Box 20280, Fredericton, NB, Canada E3B 4Z7
^b Dep. of Environmental Science, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, P.O. Box 550, 21 Cox Rd., Truro, NS, Canada B2N 5E3
^c Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Brandon Research Centre, Grand Valley Rd., Brandon, MB, Canada R7A 5Y3

^* Corresponding author (ZebarthB{at}agr.gc.ca).

A series of soil N mineralization indices were evaluated using 153 samples chosen from arable fields representing a wide range of soil types, management practices, and climatic zones. These indices were compared against potentially mineralizable N (N₀) determined by aerobic incubation at 25°C for 24 wk. Three different pools of mineralizable N were recognized: Pool I, the mineralization flush on rewetting in the first 2 wk; Pool II, gross N mineralization in the next 22 wk; and Pool III, the potentially mineralizable N, predicted from the fitted curve, that did not mineralize during the incubation period. Pool I was highly correlated with CaCl₂–N, KCl-NH₄, and KCl-NO₃, which extract soil mineral N. Pool III was significantly correlated with ultraviolet absorbance of NaHCO₃ extract at 205 and 260 nm (NaHCO₃–205 and –260), Illinois soil N test, NaOH direct-distillation N, and hot KCl-NH₄, which mostly extract hydrolyzable organic N. All indices except the mineral N based methods, phosphate-borate buffer method, and microbial biomass C were significantly related to N₀, which includes both Pools II and III. The NaHCO₃–260, NaOH direct-distillation N, and Illinois soil N test had the highest correlations with N₀ (r² = 0.74, 0.61, and 0. 51, respectively). Total organic C and N represent long-term changes in N₀ and were almost as effective in predicting N₀ as the other indices (r² = 0.60 and 0.67, respectively); however, they would be expected to be less sensitive to short-term changes in N₀ due to changes in soil management practices and history.

Abbreviations: CaCl₂–N, 0.01 M CaCl₂ extractable nitrogen • EC_e, soil electrical conductivity measured in a saturation paste extract • HKCl-NH₄, extractable ammonium nitrogen with 2 M 100°C KCl • HKCl_HYDR, (HKCl-NH₄) minus (KCl-NH₄) • ISNT, Illinois soil N test for amino sugar nitrogen • KCl-NH₄, extractable ammonium nitrogen with 1.7 M KCl • KCl-NO₃, extractable nitrate nitrogen with 1.7 M KCl • MBC, microbial biomass carbon by fumigation extraction method • N_e, gross nitrogen mineralization in first two weeks • N_min 24 wk, gross nitrogen mineralization in 24 weeks • N₀, potentially mineralizable nitrogen • NaHCO₃–205, ultraviolet absorbance of 0.01 M NaHCO₃ extract at 205 nm • NaHCO₃–260, ultraviolet absorbance of 0.01 M NaHCO₃ extract at 260 nm • NaOH-DD, direct distillation with NaOH (50%) • PBN, nitrogen determined by direct distillation with phosphate-borate buffer (pH = 11.2) • PBN_HYDR, PBN minus (KCl-NH₄) • POMC, particulate organic matter carbon • POMN, particulate organic matter nitrogen • UV, ultraviolet

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