Evidence for production of NO and N2O in two contrasting subsoils following the addition of synthetic cattle urine

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Dixon, E. R., Laughlin, R. J., Watson, C. J. and Hatch, D. J. 2010. Evidence for production of NO and N2O in two contrasting subsoils following the addition of synthetic cattle urine. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 24 (5), pp. 519-528. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4348

AuthorsDixon, E. R., Laughlin, R. J., Watson, C. J. and Hatch, D. J.
Abstract

Nitrogenous materials can be transferred out of the topsoil, either vertically to a greater depth, or in lateral pathways to surface waters, and they may also become transformed, with the potential of generating environmentally active agents. We measured the production of NO and N2O in two contrasting subsoils (70 to 90 cm): one poorly drained and the other freely drained and compared this with the topsoil (0 to 20 cm) of the corresponding soils. The soils were incubated aerobically in jars with subtreatments of either synthetic cattle urine or deionised water and sampled at intervals up to 34 days. 15N‐NO3 was used to determine the processes responsible for NO and N2O production. The headspace was analysed for the concentrations of N2O, NO and CO2 and 15N enrichment of N2O. The soil samples were extracted and analysed for NO2, NO3 and NH4, and the 15N enrichment of the extracts was measured after conversion into N2O and N2.

The study demonstrated the potential for NO, N2O and NO2 to be generated from subsoils in laboratory incubations. Differences in these N dynamics occurred due to subsoil drainage class. In the freely drained subsoil the rates of NO and NO2 production were higher than those observed for the corresponding topsoil, with mean maximum production rates of 3.5 µg NO2 N g−1 dry soil on day 16 and 0.12 µg NO‐N g−1 dry soil on day 31. The calculated total losses of N2O‐N as percentages of the applied synthetic urine N were 0.37% (freely drained subsoil), 0.24% (poorly drained subsoil), 0.43% (freely drained topsoil) and 2.09% (poorly drained topsoil). The calculated total losses of NO‐N as percentages of the applied synthetic urine N were 1.53% (freely drained subsoil), 0.02% (poorly drained subsoil), 0.25% (freely drained topsoil) and 0.08% (poorly drained topsoil).

Year of Publication2010
JournalRapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry
Journal citation24 (5), pp. 519-528
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.4348
Open accessPublished as non-open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeNorth Wyke Research (NWR)
Soil and organic matter processes
Project: 2480
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online02 Feb 2010
Publication process dates
Accepted16 Oct 2009
PublisherWiley
ISSN0951-4198

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8q4z7/evidence-for-production-of-no-and-n2o-in-two-contrasting-subsoils-following-the-addition-of-synthetic-cattle-urine

67 total views
0 total downloads
0 views this month
0 downloads this month