FATE OF NITROGEN APPLIED TO TURFGRASS-COVERED SOIL COLUMNS

Current public concern for the environment has focused on the environm ental effects of chemical applications to turfgrass areas. There is li ttle research on the environmental effects of nitrogen (N) applied to turfgrasses. Our objectives were to investigate the hydrology of 50 cm of undisturbed soil columns with a Kentucky bluegrass turf and intact macropores under a heavy (four 2.54 cm applications) and a light irri gation regime (sixteen 0.64 cm applications), and to measure the fate of N, using N-15 as a tracer, when applied to an undisturbed soil colu mn. Mean leachate values for columns under the heavy irrigation regime totaled about six times the amount collected from columns under the l ight irrigation regime. We found that the heavy irrigation increased N , which leached through the 50 cm of undisturbed soil columns by 30 ti mes and decreased the volatilization of liquid urea compared with colu mns under the light irrigation.