Soil N process inhibitors alter nitrogen leaching dynamics in a pumice soil
John C. Menneer A B , Stewart Ledgard A and Mike Sprosen AA AgResearch Ruakura Research Centre, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand.
B Corresponding author. Email: john.menneer@agresearch.co.nz
Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(4) 323-331 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR06180
Submitted: 21 December 2007 Accepted: 11 April 2008 Published: 23 June 2008
Abstract
A field lysimeter experiment, using a free-draining pumice soil, was carried out to investigate the effect of different soil nitrogen (N) process inhibitors on the fate of 15N-labelled cow urine. The treatments were a urease inhibitor (Agrotain; N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide), 2 nitrification inhibitors (dicyandiamide, DCD; 4-methylpyrazole, 4MP), a combination (DCD+Agrotain), a urine control, and a nil urine. The inhibitors were mixed with cow urine, which was then applied in a single application (equivalent to 775 kg N/ha) to lysimeters in autumn and monitored over the following 196 days. DCD and 4MP similarly reduced nitrate leaching by 59%, from 114 to 47 kg N/ha compared with the urine control. Of the DCD applied, 58% of it (8.7 kg/ha) was recovered in leachate, and represented an N loss of 5.8 kg/ha. The presence of Agrotain reduced ammonia (NH3-N) emissions by 64% (equivalent to 70 kg N/ha) over the short term (first 20 days), but led to large leaching losses of urea-N (25 kg N/ha) over the medium term (76 days). The Agrotain-DCD combination resulted in even larger losses of urea-N (45 kg N/ha). The major N component measured in leachate (below 450 mm) was ammonium-N, which constituted about 60% of the average total N (205 kg N/ha) leached. Ammonium-N leaching was rapid and almost entirely driven by macropore flow processes. Further research is required in deeper soil profiles, and in relation to climatic risk of high early rainfall on fresh urine patches, to determine the importance of macropore processes on N loss under typical on-farm soil conditions.
Additional keywords: animal urine, soil nitrogen, urease inhibitor, nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide, Agrotain, 15N isotope dilution.
Acknowledgments
The research was supported by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. The authors thank John Waller for statistical analyses; and Amanda Judge, and Moira Dexter for assistance in setting up and running the experiment.
Akai N,
Ishibashi E,
Oya M, Moritsugu S
(2001) Effects of nitrification inhibitors added to cow’s urine on environmental burdens from grassland. Japanese Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 72, 206–213.
Beven K, Germann P
(1982) Macropores and water flow in soils. Water Resources Research 18, 1311–1325.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Black AS,
Sherlock RR,
Cameron KC,
Smith NP, Goh KM
(1985) Comparison of three field methods for measuring ammonia volatilisation from urea granules broadcast on to pasture. Journal of Soil Science 36, 271–280.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cabrera ML, Kissel DE
(1989) Review and simplification of calculations in 15N tracer studies. Fertilizer Research 20, 11–15.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cameron KC,
Smith NP,
McLay CDA,
Fraser PM,
McPherson RJ,
Harrison DF, Harbottle P
(1992) Lysimeters without edge-flow: an improved design and sampling procedure. Soil Science Society of America Journal 56, 1625–1628.
Clough TJ,
Ledgard SF,
Sprosen MS, Kear MJ
(1998) Fate of 15N labelled urine on four soil types. Plant and Soil 199, 195–203.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Clough TJ,
Sherlock RR,
Cameron KC, Ledgard SF
(1996) Fate of urine nitrogen on mineral and peat soils in New Zealand. Plant and Soil 178, 141–152.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cookson WR, Cornforth IS
(2002) Dicyandiamide slows nitrification in dairy cattle urine patches: effects on soil solution composition, soil pH and pasture yield. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 34, 1461–1465.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Corre WJ, Zwart KB
(1995) Effects of DCD addition to slurry on nitrate leaching in sandy soils. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 43, 195–204.
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2002) The use of a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), to decrease nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions in a simulated grazed irrigated grassland. Soil Use and Management 18, 395–403.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Di HJ, Cameron KC
(2004) Treating grazed pasture soil with a nitrification inhibitor, eco-n, 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
(2005) Reducing environmental impacts of agriculture by using a fine particle suspension nitrification inhibitor to decrease nitrate leaching from grazed pastures. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 109, 202–212.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Douglas LA, Bremner JM
(1970) Extraction and colorimetric determination of urea in soils. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 34, 859–862.
Fraser PM,
Cameron KC, Sherlock RR
(1994) Lysimeter study of the fate of nitrogen in animal urine returns to irrigated pasture. European Journal of Soil Science 45, 439–447.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Haynes RJ, Williams PH
(1993) Nutrient cycling and soil fertility in the grazed pasture ecosystem. Advances in Agronomy 49, 119–199.
de Klein CAM,
Smith LC, Monaghan RM
(2006) Restricted autumn grazing to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from dairy pastures in Southland, New Zealand. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 112, 192–199.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ledgard SF
(2001) Nitrogen cycling in low input legume-based agriculture, with emphasis on legume/grass pastures. Plant and Soil 228, 43–59.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ledgard SF,
Steele KW, Feyter C
(1988) Influence of time of application on the fate of 15N-labelled urea applied to dairy pasture. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 31, 87–91.
Ledgard SF,
Menneer JC,
Dexter MM,
Kear MJ,
Lindsey S,
Peters JS, Pacheco D
(2008) A novel concept to reduce nitrogen losses from grazed pastures by administering soil nitrogen process inhibitors to ruminant animals: A study using sheep. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 125, 148–158.
| Crossref |
Lockyer DR, Whitehead DC
(1990) Volatilisation of ammonia from cattle urine applied to grassland. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 22, 1137–1142.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Luo J,
Lindsey SB, Ledgard SF
(2008) Nitrous oxide emissions from animal urine application on New Zealand pasture. Biology and Fertility of Soils 44, 463–470.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McCarty GW, Bremner JM
(1989) Inhibition of nitrification in soils by heterocyclic nitrogen compounds. Biology and Fertility of Soils 8, 204–211.
McGechan MB, Topp CFE
(2004) Modelling environmental impacts of deposition of excreted nitrogen by grazing dairy cows. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 103, 149–164.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Monaghan RM,
Cameron KC, McLay CDA
(1989) Leaching losses of nitrogen from sheep urine patches. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 32, 237–244.
Pakrou N, Dillon P
(1995) Preferential flow, nitrogen transformations and 15N balance under urine-affected areas of irrigated and non-irrigated clover-based pastures. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 20, 329–347.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Schwarzer C, Haselwandter K
(1996) Rapid quantification of the nitrifcation inhibitor dicyandiamide in soil samples, nutrient and bacterial cell-free extracts. Journal of Chromatography. A 732, 390–393.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Sherlock RR, Goh KM
(1984) Dynamics of ammonia volatilisation from simulated urine patches and aqeuous urea appled to pasture. I. Field experiments. Fertilizer Research 5, 181–195.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Silva RG,
Cameron KC,
Di HJ,
Smith P, Buchan GD
(2000) Effect of macropore flow on the transport of surface-applied cow urine through a soil profile. Australian Journal of Soil Research 38, 13–23.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Whitehead DC, Bristow AW
(1990) Transformations of nitrogen following application of 15N-labelled cattle urine to an established grass sward. Journal of Applied Ecology 27, 667–678.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams PH,
Hedley MJ, Gregg PEH
(1990) The effect of preferential flow of dairy cow urine and simulated rainfall on the movement of potassium through undisturbed topsoil cores. Australian Journal of Soil Research 28, 857–868.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
