Abstract
A leaching experiment was designed to study the effects of a commercial nitrification inhibitor containing nitrapyrin on nitrification, microbial nitrogen (N) immobilization, and nitrate leaching. Soil columns were treated with 100 mg N kg−1 from pig slurry, cattle slurry, and anaerobic digestate in a mixture with or without the nitrification inhibitor. Destructive sampling was carried out after 0, 7, and 28 days of incubation in the dark at 18 °C. At each sampling date, artificial rain (200 mm of 0.01 M calcium chloride over 4 h) was added to the soil columns. The leachate was collected, and the soil was removed from the columns and sectioned into 5 cm segments. Results indicated that after 28 days of incubation, nitrapyrin enhanced ammoniacal N accumulation in the top layers of the soil columns and reduced the nitrate concentration in the leachates with pig slurry and anaerobic digestate. Furthermore, in the soil columns treated with anaerobic digestate, nitrapyrin promoted microbial N immobilization. These findings suggest that the use of nitrapyrin in a mixture with animal slurry and anaerobic digestate has the potential to reduce nitrate leaching and increase N retention in the topsoil, affording both environmental and economic advantages.
Highlights
Nitrogen (N) is a limiting nutrient in many soils, in those suitable for intensive agricultural production
Results of the cattle slurry (CS) and D treatments at 0 and 7 days of incubation suggest that a nitrification inhibitor based on nitrapyrin will reduce the concentration of NO3 − -N in the soil columns before the rainfall simulation, and less NO3 − -N remains in the soil
The contrasting effects of nitrapyrin on the net concentration of NO3 − -N detected at different times of incubation in the soil columns may be due to a reduction of its inhibitory efficacy as incubation proceeds
Summary
Nitrogen (N) is a limiting nutrient in many soils, in those suitable for intensive agricultural production. The application of these by-products may lead to nitrate (NO3 − -N) leaching and runoff, ammonia (NH3 ) volatilization, and nitrous and nitric oxide (N2 O, NO) emissions [1,2]. This occurs with low N uptake by crops, and where the soil moisture is higher than the water-holding capacity [3,4]. It is widely recognized that nitrification inhibitors are able to maintain the N applied to the soil in the ammonium form (NH4 + -N) [5] through the biological immobilization of the N fertilizer [6]
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