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Influence of 15N-labeled ammonium sulfate and straw on nitrogen retention and supply in different fertility soils

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Abstract

Microbial immobilization/mineralization and mineral fixation/release of ammonium are important for N retention and supply. However, the rates of such processes vary among different fertility soils and fertilization management practices. Three long-term different fertilized soils were used to simulate a range in soil fertility level and incubated with different N amendments for 144 days. The dynamics of 15N derived from ammonium sulfate (AS) or straw in different soil N pools and the ammonium sulfate-N or straw-N retention and supply were studied. In the absence of straw, the amount of ammonium sulfate-N present as fixed ammonium was 1.1–3.5-fold higher than that present as soil microbial biomass N (SMBN), although ammonium sulfate-derived SMBN and its mineralization increased by increasing soil fertility level. Straw addition significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced the relative importance of the SMBN pool on ammonium sulfate-N retention and supply compared with the fixed ammonium-N pool, and the former exceeded the latter in higher fertility soils. Regardless of soil fertility levels, straw addition significantly blocked the release of ammonium sulfate-N from the fixed ammonium-N pool. The SMBN pool was more important in straw-N retention and supply than the fixed ammonium-N pool, confirming that straw-N cycling depended more on biotic processes. The percentage of mineralized ammonium sulfate-N or straw-N from SMBN was higher than that released from fixed ammonium, indicating the higher availability of SMBN. Generally, the mineral fixation/release of ammonium was the main process for mineral fertilizer N retention and supply in the low fertility soil with or without straw addition, whereas microbial immobilization/mineralization became the main process in the high fertility soil with straw addition. Our results gave insights on the ammonium sulfate-N or straw-N retention and supply in different fertility soils, providing suggestions for optimizing straw management and synchronizing N supply with crop demand.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41471250, 41171242, 41301326) and the project from the Pioneer Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. TSS20150103).

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  1. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Fei-Fei Pan, Wan-Tai Yu, Qiang Ma, Hua Zhou, Chun-Ming Jiang, Yong-Gang Xu & **-Feng Ren

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Fei-Fei Pan & **-Feng Ren

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Pan, FF., Yu, WT., Ma, Q. et al. Influence of 15N-labeled ammonium sulfate and straw on nitrogen retention and supply in different fertility soils. Biol Fertil Soils 53, 303–313 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-017-1177-1

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