The effect of ammonium nitrogen on fixation of elemental nitrogen inAlnus andMyrica

Abstract

1. A substantial formation of nodules occurred on plants ofAlnus glutinosa andMyrica gale grown in water culture with different levels of ammonium nitrogen labelled with N15 present in the culture solution. The nodules tended to be fewer but larger than on plants in solution free of combined nitrogen. 2. The nodules continued to fix atmospheric nitrogen despite the presence of ammonium nitrogen in the rooting medium, though fixation per unit weight of nodule tissues formed was somewhat lower than in nitrogen-free solution. Among other possible reasons this could have been due to a substitution of ammonium nitrogen for elemental nitrogen at the nitrogen-fixing centres of the nodule, but evidently this does not occur to any great extent. 3. In Alnus but not in Myrica fixation per plant was considerably enhanced in the presence of a low level of ammonium nitrogen, owing to greater nodule development. At higher ammonium levels, in excess of the plants' requirements, fixation per plant was still of comparable order to that in nitrogen-free solution, but now only represented some 24 to 45 per cent of the total nitrogen accumulated by the plants. 4. The results suggest that under field conditions some fixation of atmospheric nitrogen will always be associated with nodules present.