RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOIL MICROBIAL BIOMASS AND GROSS N MINERALIZATION

Authors
Citation
G. Puri et Mr. Ashman, RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOIL MICROBIAL BIOMASS AND GROSS N MINERALIZATION, Soil biology & biochemistry, 30(2), 1998, pp. 251-256
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Agriculture Soil Science
Journal title
ISSN journal
00380717
Volume
30
Issue
2
Year of publication
1998
Pages
251 - 256
Database
ISI
SICI code
0038-0717(1998)30:2<251:RBSMBA>2.0.ZU;2-W
Abstract
The gross rate of N mineralisation was measured under held conditions over 12 mo using the N-15 pool dilution technique. Significant differe nces in the mineralisation rate were found during the year, with an av erage rate of 610 ng N g(-1) soil d(-1). Changes in the gross minerali sation rate were not reflected in the size of the soil microbial N poo l, which remained essentially stable over 12 mo. Attempts to determine the contribution of microbial N to gross mineralisation using N-15 is otope methods proved unsuccessful as we could not uniformly label the microbial N pool with N-15 in the field. The data suggested that only a fraction of the microbial biomass was involved in N mineralisation; Soil moisture and temperature were the most important factors influenc ing the gross rate of mineralisation. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.