The impact of urease inhibitor on the bioavailability of nitrogen in urea and in comparison with other nitrogen sources in ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)
K. Dawar A , M. Zaman B , J. S. Rowarth C , J. Blennerhassett B and M. H. Turnbull A DA School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
B Summit-Quinphos (NZ) Ltd, Private Bag 12508, Tauranga Mail Centre, Tauranga 3143, New Zealand.
C Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
D Corresponding author. Email: matthew.turnbull@canterbury.ac.nz
Crop and Pasture Science 61(3) 214-221 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP09205
Submitted: 10 July 2009 Accepted: 11 January 2010 Published: 9 March 2010
Abstract
Improving nitrogen (N)-use efficiency of applied urea is critical to maximise its uptake and decrease environmental impact. Two glasshouse-based studies were conducted to investigate the potential of incorporating urea fertiliser with urease inhibitor (N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) or ‘Agrotain’) to enhance fertiliser N uptake efficiency. Topsoil (0–0.075 m, Typic Haplustepts silt loam) from a pasture site near Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand, was collected and ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) was grown from seed in standard plant trays maintained at soil moisture contents of 75–80% field capacity. Urea, Agrotain-treated urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, or sodium nitrate, were applied in granular form at rates equivalent to 25 or 50 kg N/ha with 4 replicates. Herbage was harvested 21 and 42 days after application of treatments to assess dry matter (DM) production, N uptake, leaf amino acid, ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3–) concentrations, and nitrate reductase activity (NRA). In a separate pot experiment, granular 15N urea (10 atom%) with or without Agrotain was applied to ryegrass at 25 kg N/ha. At 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, and 21 days after treatment application, 3 pots per treatment were destructively sampled to determine urea hydrolysis, herbage DM, and 15N uptake. In both experiments, Agrotain-treated urea improved bio-availability of added N and resulted in significantly higher herbage DM yield and N uptake than urea alone or other forms of N fertilisers. Agrotain-treated urea applied at 25 kg N/ha increased N response by 66% compared with urea alone (and by greater proportions compared with the other fertiliser forms). Agrotain-treated urea applied at 25 kg N/ha produced significantly higher uptake efficiency (13 g DM/g of applied N) than at 50 kg N/ha (5 g DM/g of applied N). Tissue amino acids, NH4+ and NO3– contents, and NRA were not significantly influenced by any type of fertiliser. Results from the 15N experiment support the suggestion that a delay in urea hydrolysis by Agrotain provided an opportunity for direct plant uptake of an increased proportion of the applied urea-N than in the case of urea alone. Treating urea with Agrotain thus has the potential to increase N-use efficiency and herbage production.
Additional keywords: Agrotain, herbage dry matter, hydrolysis, N response, 15N, N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT).
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Summit Quinphos (NZ) Ltd for providing funding to support this project, and for preparing and coating the 15N urea with Agrotain. A University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship to KD is also gratefully acknowledged.
Andrews M
(1986) The partitioning of nitrate assimilation between root and shoot of higher plants. Plant, Cell & Environment 9, 511–519.
|
CAS |
Black AS,
Sherlock RR,
Smith NP,
Cameron KC, Goh KM
(1985) Effects of form of nitrogen, season and urea application rate on ammonia volatilisation from pasture. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 28, 469–474.
Blennerhassett JD,
Zaman M, Ramakrishnan C
(2006) The potential for increasing nitrogen responses using Agrotain-treated urea. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 68, 297–301.
Bollard EG,
Cook AR, Turner NA
(1968) Urea as sole source of nitrogen for plant growth. The development of urease activity in Spirodela oligorrhiza. Planta 83, 1–12.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Bremner JM, Chai HS
(1986) Evaluation of N-Butyl phosphorothioic triamide for retardation of urea hydrolysis in soil. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 17, 337–351.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Carmona G,
Christianson CB, Byrnes BH
(1990) Temperature and low concentration effects of the urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (nBTPT) on ammonia volatilization from urea. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 22, 933–937.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Castle ML,
Crush JR, Rowarth JS
(2007) Effect of foliar and root applied nitrogen on nitrogen uptake and movement in white clover at low temperature. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 50, 463–472.
|
CAS |
Chai HS, Bremner JM
(1987) Evaluation of some phosphoroamides as soil urease inhibitors. Biology and Fertility of Soils 3, 189–194.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Christianson CB,
Byrnes BH, Carmona G
(1990) A comparison of the sulfur and oxygen analogs of phosphoric triamide urease inhibitors in reducing urea hydrolysis and ammonia volatilization. Fertilizer Research 26, 21–27.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
De Datta SK,
Trevitt ACF,
Freney JR,
Obcemea WN,
Real JG, Simpson JR
(1989) Measuring nitrogen losses from lowland rice using bulk aerodynamic and Nitrogen-15 balance methods. Soil Science Society of America Journal 53, 1275–1281.
Fenn LB, Hossner LR
(1985) Ammonia volatilisation from ammonium or ammonium forming nitrogen fertilizers. Advances in Soil Science 1, 771–776.
Freney JR,
Leuning R,
Simpson JR,
Denmead OT, Muirhead WA
(1985) Estimating ammonia volatilization from flooded rice fields by simplified techniques. Soil Science Society of America Journal 49, 1049–1054.
|
CAS |
Gioacchini P,
Nastri A,
Marzadori C,
Giovannini C,
Vittori Antisari L, Gessa C
(2002) Influence of urease and nitrification inhibitors on N losses from soils fertilized with urea. Biology and Fertility of Soils 36, 129–135.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Joo YK,
Christians NE, Bremner JM
(1987) Effect of N-(Normal-Butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (Nbpt) on growth-response and ammonia volatilization following fertilization of Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa Pratersis L.) with urea. Journal of Fertilizer Issues 4, 98–102.
|
CAS |
Ledgard SF,
Penno JW, Spronsen MS
(1999) Nitrogen inputs and losses from clover/ryegrass pastures grazed by dairy cows, as affected by nitrogen fertiliser application. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 132, 215–225.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Martikainen PJ
(1985) Numbers of autotrophic nitrifiers and nitrification in fertilized forest soil. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 17, 245–248.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Martin RJ,
Weerden VD,
Riddle MU, Butler RC
(2008) Comparison of Agrotain-treated and standard urea on an irrigated dairy pasture. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 70, 91–94.
Matsumoto H,
Yasuda T,
Kobayashi M, Takahashi E
(1966) The inducible formation of urease in rice plants. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 12, 33–38.
Mulvaney RL, Bremner JM
(1981) Control of urea transformations in soils. Soil Biochemistry 5, 153–196.
|
CAS |
Saggar S
(2004) Changes in nitrogen dynamics of legume-based pastures with increased nitrogen fertiliser use: impacts on New Zealand’s nitrous oxide emissions inventory. New Zealand Soil News 52, 110–117.
Smirnoff N, Stewart GR
(1985) Nitrate assimilation and translocation by higher plants: comparative physiology and ecological consequences. Physiologia Plantarum 64, 133–140.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Sommer SG, Hutchings NJ
(2001) Ammonia emissions from field applied manure and its reduction. European Journal of Agronomy 15, 1–15.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Stewart GR,
Joly CA, Smirnoff N
(1992) Partitioning of inorganic nitrogen assimilation between the roots and shoots of cerrado and forest trees of contrasting plant communities of South East Brasil. Oecologia 91, 511–517.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Streeter TC,
Bol R, Bardgett RD
(2000) Amino acids as a nitrogen source in temperate upland grasslands: the use of dual labelled (13C, 15N) glycine to test for direct uptake by dominant grasses. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 14, 1351–1355.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
PubMed |
Theobald PW, Ball PR
(1984) Nitrogen lost by ammonia volatilisation, and the effectiveness of urea and ammonium sulphate fertilisers. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 45, 236–238.
Watson CJ, Miller H
(1996) Short-term effects of urea amended with the urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide on perennial ryegrass. Plant and Soil 184, 33–45.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Watson CJ,
Poland P,
Miller H,
Allen MBD,
Garrett MK, Christianson CB
(1994) Agronomic assessment and 15N recovery of urea amended with the urease inhibitor nBTPT (N-(nbutyl) thiophosphoric triamide) for temperate grassland. Plant and Soil 161, 167–177.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Zaman M,
Nguyen ML,
Blennerhassett JD, Quin BF
(2008) Reducing NH3, N2O and NO3
–-N losses from a pasture soil with urease or nitrification inhibitors and elemental S-amended nitrogenous fertilizers. Biology and Fertility of Soils 44, 693–705.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Zaman M,
Saggar S,
Blennerhassett JD, Singh J
(2009) Effect of urease and nitrification inhibitors on N transformation, gaseous emissions of ammonia and nitrous oxide, pasture yield and N uptake in grazed pasture system. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 41, 1270–1280.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Zhengping W,
Van Cleemput O,
Liantie L, Baert L
(1996) Movement of urea and its hydrolysis products as influenced by moisture content and urease inhibitors. Biology and Fertility of Soils 22, 101–108.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |