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SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY

Gross Nitrogen Transformations and Related Nitrous Oxide Emissions in an Intensively Used Calcareous Soil

^a Key Lab. of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, College of Agric. Resour. and Environ. Sci., China Agricultural Univ., Beijing 100094, China
^b Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Biogeophysics Section, Univ. of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany
^c Helmholtz Centre for Environ, Research- UFZ, Department of Soil Physics, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 4, D-06120 Halle/Saale, Germany

^* Corresponding author (juxt{at}cau.edu.cn).

A better understanding of the internal N cycle in agriculturally used soils is crucial for developing sustainable and environmentally friendly N fertilizer management and to propose effective N₂O mitigation strategies. The present laboratory study quantifies gross nitrogen transformations in an intensively used agricultural soil of the North China Plain (NCP). It also elucidates the role of nitrification and denitrification in the emissions of the greenhouse gas N₂O. In the lab, soil samples adjusted to a water-filled pore space (WFPS) of 40 or 60% were spiked with ¹⁵NH₄NO₃, NH₄¹⁵NO₃, or ¹⁵NH₄¹⁵NO₃ and incubated at 20°C for 10 d. One subset of the samples was amended with glucose. The size and ¹⁵N enrichment of the mineral N pools and N₂O fluxes were determined at intervals of 0 to 10 d. The studied calcareous soil showed a very rapid nitrification of the applied NH₄⁺, which disappeared during the first 3 d. Glucose enhanced mineralization of native soil organic matter (SOM), stimulated dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and promoted the immobilization–remineralization cycle. Throughout the incubation, nitrification, and denitrification occurred simultaneously. Nitrification was the dominant N₂O-producing process and contributed 83.0 to 95.4% to the totally emitted N₂O in the non-glucose soils. In contrast, the N₂O emitted from ¹⁵NO₃^– pool increased after adding glucose, indicating that denitrification was C-limited in the studied soil.

Abbreviations: NCP, North China Plain • SOM, soil organic matter • WFPS, water-filled pore space

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