In-vitro assessment of 3,5-diaryl-1h-pyrazoles for nitrification inhibition in soil

Abstract

Nitrification process involves conversion of nitrogen into nitrates by soil microbes which are then taken up by plants. But due to denitrification, ammonia volatilization, nitrous oxide emission, leaching, run off, etc., the plant available nitrogen is lost from the soil. Pyrazoles are good nitrification inhibitors and DMPP (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate) is a known commercial nitrification inhibitor in agricultural crops. The study explores the potential of a group of diarylpyrazoles for their nitrification inhibitory properties under in-vitro conditions. The test pyrazole compounds were applied at recommended dose of 1% of urea nitrogen-N. Four of the pyrazole compounds showed promising results with several compounds having more than 50% nitrification inhibition. Some compounds showed better performance than the standard DCD (dicyandiamide) at 1% and 5%. There were few compounds which showed no inhibition. Results suggest that some of the compounds proved to be good inhibitors of nitrification under laboratory conditions.