ON THE CONJUGATION OF PROCESSES OF CARBON AND NITROGEN-METABOLISM IN SOIL

In experiments on leached chernozem, gray forest, and soddy-podzolic s oils, correlation and regression relationships between soil production of C-CO2 and parameters that characterize mineralization-immobilizati on transformations of nitrogen were determined. The changes in the amo unt of C-CO2 released from the soil after the application of N-15 labe led fertilizer did not correlate with the extra nitrogen, calculated b y a traditional method; however, they characterize reliably the value of the net soil nitrogen mineralization. The production of C-CO2 by so il reflects rather objectively the full cycle of mineralization and im mobilization of nitrogen, but not separate processes involved in this cycle.