Journal article

Publication year: 2024

Pages: 47-51

Journal: Biology and Fertility of Soils

Volume number: 60

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 0178-2762

eISSN: 1432-0789

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01697-6

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 
It is not clear how the number of (15) N-injection needles affects the estimated results of gross N transformation rates in the presence of plants. To evaluate this, a (15) N tracing study of sandy loam soil and a silty loam soil in the presence of maize (Zea mays L., cv. "Zhengdan 958") was conducted and the Ntrace(plant) tool was used to quantify gross N transformation rates. Our results showed that the number of (15) N-injection needles could significantly influence the estimated results of gross N transformation rates in the studied soil-plant systems. There was no discernible difference in the gross rates of N mineralization (Min), the oxidation of NH4+ to NO3- (O-NH4), the oxidation of recalcitrant organic-N to NO3- (O-Nrec), the NH4+ and NO3- plant uptake between 4-needle and 6-needle injections for both studied soils. However, for the 1-needle and 2-needle injections in the silty loam soil, Min was significantly lower than the 4-needle and 6-needle injections. While, in sandy loam soil, Min measured with 1-needle injection was significantly higher than the 4-needle and 6-needle injections. The O-NH4 and O-Nrec also varied for the 1-needle and 2-needle injections, compared to the 4-needle and 6-needle injections. The total plant N uptake rate declined with the increase in the number of injection needles. Based on these results and considering the simplicity of the experimental procedure, we suggest that the 4-needle injection could be used in the (15) N tracing studies conducted in pot (diameter = 6.4 cm in this study) experiments with plants, i.e., one needle for about 8 cm(2).

Harvard Citation style: Zhu, Q., Wang, W., Dai, S., Meng, L., He, M., Chen, S., et al. (2024) Effects of the number of ¹⁵ N-injection needles on the estimation of gross N transformation rates using ¹⁵ N tracing tool including plant, Biology and Fertility of Soils, 60(1), pp. 47-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01697-6

APA Citation style: Zhu, Q., Wang, W., Dai, S., Meng, L., He, M., Chen, S., Dan, X., Cai, Z., Zhang, J., & Mueller, C. (2024). Effects of the number of ¹⁵ N-injection needles on the estimation of gross N transformation rates using ¹⁵ N tracing tool including plant. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 60(1), 47-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01697-6