Total soluble nitrogen in forest soils as determined by persulfate oxidation and by high temperature catalytic oxidation
C. R. Chen A D , Z. H. Xu A , P. Keay B and S. L. Zhang CA Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld 4111, Australia.
B DPI Forestry Queensland, Fraser Road, Gympie, Qld 4570, Australia.
C Current address: College of Resources and Environment, Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, P. R. China.
D Corresponding author. Email: c.chen@griffith.edu.au
Australian Journal of Soil Research 43(4) 515-523 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR04132
Submitted: 7 September 2004 Accepted: 2 March 2005 Published: 30 June 2005
Abstract
Speedy and reliable measurements of soil soluble nitrogen (N) are critical for estimating N fluxes in forest ecosystems. The high temperature catalytic oxidation (HTCO) method was assessed and compared with persulfate oxidation (PO) to measure total soluble N in water, hot water, 2 m KCl, and 0.5 m K2SO4 extracts of 24 forest soils collected from south-east Queensland. All salt extracts were diluted 5-fold before measurement by the HTCO method to minimise the effects of salt precipitation on the surface of the Pt/Al2O3 catalysts that may impair oxidation efficiency. Drifts of sensitivity of signals in diluted KCl (0.4 m), K2SO4 (0.1 m), and water matrixes by the HTCO method were minor, with <2% in KCl matrix and <3% in K2SO4 and water matrices. Nitrogen recoveries from most standard N-containing compounds (5 mg/L) analysed by the HTCO method in all the matrices tested were >94%. The values of total soluble N in all extracts of soils obtained by both the PO and the HTCO methods were highly correlated. However, the HTCO method generally gave greater values than the PO method, particularly with high concentrations of N. We consider the HTCO method to be a simple, automated, rapid, quantitative, and reliable method for determining total soluble N in both water extracts and diluted salt extracts of forest soils.
Additional keywords: chemiluminescence, recovery, fumigation, water extracts, K2SO4 extracts, KCl extracts.
Acknowledgments
The access to the experimental sites of DPI Forestry, Queensland and Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland, Horticulture and Forestry Sciences is acknowledged. The authors would like to thank Mr John Simpson, Tim Smith, and Mark Podberscek of Queensland Forest Research Institute for access to site information details and Mr John Simpson for his helpful comments on this manuscript.
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