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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 48(3)

Soil nitrogen dynamics in irrigated maize systems as impacted on by nitrogen and stubble management

R. B. Edis A B E , D. Chen A B , G. Wang A , D. A. Turner A B , K. Park A , M. Meyer C B and C. Kirkby D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Resource Management, The University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.

B CRC for Greenhouse Accounting.

C CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, PB1 Aspendale, Vic. 3195, Australia.

D CSIRO Land and Water, GPO Box 1666, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: roberte@unimelb.edu.au

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48(3) 382-386 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA06098
Submitted: 15 March 2006  Accepted: 13 September 2007   Published: 4 February 2008

Abstract

The soil nitrogen (N) dynamics of an irrigated maize system in which stubble retention and stubble burned treatments were superimposed over treatments of varying N fertiliser rate were studied. The field site was near Whitton, New South Wales, Australia, and the work described here is part a life cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from maize project. The objective of this part of the work was to quantify the fate of fertiliser N applied at the site. Field measurements of denitrification, mineral N content and recovery of 15N-labelled urea from microplots with and without ammonium thiosulfate were complimented with laboratory studies of denitrification and nitrous oxide (N2O) flux. Significantly (P < 0.05) more fertiliser N was recovered in the grain from the stubble incorporated treatment than the stubble burned treatment and there was greater recovery of fertiliser N in the soil at the end of the experiment in the stubble burned treatment. This may indicate that fertiliser N applied to the stubble burned system may be more exposed to soil-N transformations. The reason for the difference in uptake and soil residual is not clear but may be related to soil structure differences leading to less plant accessibility of N in the burned treatment. This difference may lead to more nitrous oxide emission from soil in the stubble burned treatments. Short-term (1 h) static chamber measurements in the field found a strong N-rate dependence of N2O emission rate for fertiliser rates between 0 and 300 kg N/ha. Inclusion of ammonium thiosulfate in the fertiliser formulation did not appear to have a significant impact on fertiliser N recovery.

Additional keywords: fate of urea, nitrogen losses, nitrogen transformation, nitrous oxide.


Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge assistance of David Smith and Alison Fattore in the field and in the laboratory.


References


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