Various textured soil as nitrous oxide emitter and consumer

Abstract

Changes of NO 3, and N 2O concentrations during 34 days hypoxic incubation of eleven nitrate amended samples of the Eutric Cambisols developed from sand, silt and loam were studied. It was found that initial generation of nitrous oxide was followed, after a maximum by its subsequent absorption. The absorption rate was correlated with the efflux. Both were negatively correlated with sand content and positively with silt, clay and C org. The percentage of nitrate reduced equals 35, 97, and 100% for Eutric Cambisols developed from sand, loam and silt, respectively. The highest N 2O efflux was observed from silty soils, the lowest one from sandy soils. Total N 2 O consumption ranged between 3.3 and 66.5 mg N kg -1, and consisted 32.9, 99.2, and 100% of the produced N 2O for the sandy, loamy and silty soil samples, respectively. The tested soils were characterized by various ratio of the N 2Oemitted to the consumed. Most of sandy samples are characterized by a weak capacity to N 2O production and consumption, while loamy and silty soils are characterized by a good or very good capacity to N 2O production and consumption. © 2011 Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences.