Effects of temperature and application rate of a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), on nitrification rate and microbial biomass in a grazed pasture soil
H. J. Di A B and K. C. Cameron AA Centre for Soil and Environmental Quality, PO Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.
B Corresponding author. Email: dih@lincoln.ac.nz
Australian Journal of Soil Research 42(8) 927-932 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR04050
Submitted: 14 April 2004 Accepted: 4 August 2004 Published: 14 December 2004
Abstract
Abstract. The nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) has recently been shown to be effective in reducing nitrate leaching from grazed pasture soils. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of temperature and application rate on the effectiveness of DCD in nitrification inhibition. Possible effects on soil microbial biomass were also determined. The soil, Lismore silt loam (Pallic orthic brown soil; Udic Haplustept loamy skeletal), was incubated at a moisture content near field capacity under 2 temperatures (8 or 20°C). Urea was applied at 25 kg N/ha and dairy cow urine at 1000 kg N/ha. DCD was applied at 2 rates equivalent to 7.5 or 15 kg/ha. The results show that at a soil temperature of 8°C, the half-life of DCD was 111–116 days. The half-life of NH4+ changed from 44 days without DCD to 243–491 days when DCD was applied. In contrast, at a soil temperature of 20°C the half-life of DCD was 18–25 days. The half-life of NH4+ changed from 22 days without DCD to 64–55 days with DCD. The 2 different rates of DCD had a small effect on the NH4+ concentration in the soil. The application of DCD did not have a significant effect on soil microbial biomass. DCD would therefore be most effective in inhibiting nitrification and thus reducing nitrate leaching in late autumn–winter–early spring in most parts of New Zealand when daily average soil temperatures are generally below 10°C and when drainage is high.
Additional keywords: nitrogen, nitrate, leaching, pastures, dairying, water quality.
Acknowledgments
We thank Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd and Lincoln University for funding, and Suman Mishra for technical assistance.
Amberger A
(1989) Research on dicyandiamide as a nitrification inhibitor and future outlook. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 20, 1933–1955.
Amberger A, Germann-Bauer MP
(1990) Effect of the nitrification inhibitors 1-amidino-thiourea and dicyandiamide in combination with urea and ammonium sulfate. Fertilizer Research 21, 179–183.
Cameron KC, Di HJ, Condron LM
(2002) Nutrient and pesticide transfers from agricultural soils to water in New Zealand. ‘Agriculture, hydrology and water quality’. (Eds P Haygarth, S Jarvis)
pp. 373–393. (CAB International Wallingford: Oxon, UK)
Cameron KC,
Di HJ,
Reijnen BPA,
Li Z,
Russell JM, Barnett JW
(2002b) Fate of nitrogen in dairy factory effluent irrigated onto land. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 45, 207–216.
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2000) Calculating nitrogen leaching losses and critical nitrogen application rates in dairy pasture systems using a semi-empirical model. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 43, 139–147.
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2002a) Nitrate leaching in temperate agroecosystems: sources, factors and mitigating strategies. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 64, 237–256.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2002b) Nitrate leaching and pasture production from different nitrogen sources on a shallow stony soil under flood irrigated dairy pasture. Australian Journal of Soil Research 40, 317–334.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2002c) The use of a nitrification inhibitor, diyandiamide (DCD), to reduce nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions in a simulated grazed and irrigated grassland. Soil Use and Management 18, 395–403.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2003) Mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions in spray-irrigated grazed grassland by treating the soil with dicyandiamide, a nitrification inhibitor. Soil Use and Management 19, 284–290.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2004a) Effects of the nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide on potassium, magnesium and calcium leaching in grazed grassland. Soil Use and Management 20, 2–7.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2004b) Treating grazed pasture soil with a nitrification inhibitor, eco-nTM, to decrease nitrate leaching in a deep sandy soil under spray irrigation—a lysimeter study. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 47, 351–361.
Di HJ,
Cameron KC,
Silva RG,
Russell JM, Barnett JW
(2002) A lysimeter study of the fate of 15N-labelled cow urine with or without farm dairy effluent in a grazed dairy pasture soil under flood irrigation. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 45, 235–244.
Hewitt, AE (1998).
Irigoyen I,
Muro J,
Azpilikueta M,
Aparicio-Tejo A, Lamsfus C
(2003) Ammonium oxidation kinetics in the presence of nitrification inhibitors DCD and DMPP at various temperatures. Australian Journal of Soil Research 41, 1177–1183.
Jarvis SC, Scholefield D, Pain B
(1995) Nitrogen cycling in grazing systems. ‘Nitrogen fertilization in the environment’. (Ed. PE Bacon)
pp. 381–419. (Marcel Dekker: New York)
Prasad R, Power JF
(1995) Nitrification inhibitors for agriculture, health and the environment. Advances in Agronomy 54, 233–281.
Rajbanshi SS,
Benckiser G, Ottow JCG
(1992) Effects of concentration, incubation temperature, and repeated applications on degradation kinetics of dicyandiamide (DCD) in model experiments with a silt loam soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils 13, 61–64.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rogers GA,
Penny A, Hewitt MV
(1985) Effect of nitrification inhibitors on uptake of mineralised nitrogen and on yields of winter cereals grown on sandy soil after ploughing old grassland. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 36, 915–924.
Ryden JC,
Ball PR, Garwood EA
(1984) Nitrate leaching from grassland. Nature 311, 50–53.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Schwarzer C, Haselwandter K
(1996) Rapid quantification of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide in soil samples, nutrient media and bacterial cell-free extracts. Journal of Chromatography A 732, 390–393.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Silva RG,
Cameron KC,
Di HJ, Hendry T
(1999) A lysimeter study of the impact of cow urine, dairy shed effluent and nitrogen fertilizer on drainage water quality. Australian Journal of Soil Research 37, 357–369.
Soil Survey Staff (1998).
Vance ED,
Brookes PC, Jenkinson DS
(1987) An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 19, 703–707.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Widmer P,
Brookes PC, Parry LC
(1989) Microbial biomass nitrogen measurements in soils containing large amount of inorganic nitrogen. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 21, 865–867.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williamson JC,
Taylor MD,
Torrens RS, Vojvodic-Vukovic M
(1998) Reducing nitrogen leaching from dairy farm effluent-irrigated pasture using dicyandiamide: a lysimeter study. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 69, 81–88.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Zaman M,
Di HJ,
Cameron KC, Frampton CM
(1999) Gross nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates and their relationships to enzyme activities and the soil microbial biomass in soils treated with dairy shed effluent and ammonium fertilizer at different water potentials. Biology and Fertility of Soils 29, 178–186.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Zerulla W,
Barth T,
Dressel J,
Erhardt K,
von Locquenghien KH,
Pasda G,
Rädle M, Wissemeier AH
(2001) 3,4-Dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP)—a new nitrification inhibitor for agriculture and horticulture, an introduction. Biology and Fertility of Soils 34, 79–84.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
