N dynamics and sources of N 2 O production following pig slurry application to a loamy soil

Abstract

Carbon (C) and Nitrogen dynamics and sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) production were investigated in a loamy soil amended with pig slurry. Pig slurry (40000kgha–1) or distilled H2O was applied to intact soil cores of the upper 5cm of a loamy soil which were incubated under aerobic conditions for 28 days at 25°C. Treatments were with or without acetylene (C2H2), which is assumed to inhibit the reduction of N2O to dinitrogen (N2), and with or without dicyandiamide (DCD), which is thought to inhibit nitrification. Volatilization of ammonia (NH3), pH, carbon dioxide (CO2) and N2O production, and ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate NO3–) concentrations were monitored. The pH of the pig slurry amended soil increased from an initial value of 7.1 to pH 8.3 within 3 days; it then decreased slowly but was still at a value of 7.4 after 28 days. Twenty percent of the NH4+ applied volatilized within 28 days. Sixty percent of the C applied in the pig slurry evolved as CO2, if no priming effect was assumed, but only 38% evolved when the soil was amended with DCD. Pig slurry significantly increased denitrification and the ratio between its gaseous products, N2O and N2, was 0.21. No significant increases in NO3– concentration occurred, and N2O produced through nitrification was 0.07mg N2O-N kg–1 day–1 or 33% of the total N2O produced. C2H2 was used as a C substrate by microorganisms and increased the production of N2O.