Abstract
Many different methods have been devised and are currently being used to evaluate either qualitatively or quantitatively the process of denitrification. A descriptive and critical discussion of these methods is presented in the text. Basically the following five approaches are considered: 1) indirect analyses (available carbon, Eh, bacterial numbers), 2) disappearance of nitrate, 3) 15N tracers, 4) 13N tracers, 5) evolution of N2O and N2. Considerable attention is given to the importance of N2O, the direct precursor to N2, in soil atmospheres. The most important kinetic factors that effect the formation and destruction of N2O are nitrate concentration and aeration. Kinetic analyses of these factors coupled with the use of inhibitors which block the reduction of N2O to N2 in situ offer the best hope for direct measurement of denitrification in soil.
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