Effect of source and nest size of N fertilizers and temperature on nitrification in a coarse textured, alkaline soil

Nitrification occurring in an alkaline sandy loam soil fertilized with urea, ammonium sulphate (AS) and ammonium chloride (AC) was studied in the laboratory at 20°C and 40°C for 30 days. Nitrogen fertilizers were applied as nest of sizes 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g. Unfertilized control and soil mixed with 50 mg N kg^-1 were also included as treatments.Nitrification in all the fertilizer treatments decreased markedly with increasing nest size. At 20°C, differences among the three N sources were not significant at 5 days after incubation but marked differences appeared thereafter. All the N was nitrified by 30 days in case of fertilizers mixed into the soil. In nest placement, nitrification ranged from 30.1 to 75.5%, 28.3 to 74.6% and 35.3 to 88.7% for urea, AC and AS, respectively. When equal amounts of fertilizers were placed in a nest, nitrification occurred at a slower rate with urea than with AC and AS. Rates of nitrification were significantly higher at 40°C than at 20°C. At 20 days, nitrification from different nest sizes ranged from 8.4 to 64.9% and from 24.9 to 87.0% at 20°C and 40°C, respectively. The difference in nitrification at two temperatures were more pronounced at higher nest sizes than at smaller nest sizes. While nitrification with the three N sources decreased linearly with increase in N concentration (nest size) in soil at 40°C, it showed a quadratic relationship at 20°C. At equal N concentration, the highest rate of nitrification occurred with urea and the lowest with AC. At the same rate of applied N (50–2000 mg kg^-1), AC and AS increased electrical conductivity of soil by 1.3–9 times that of urea. Apparent mineral N recovery of applied N decreased with the increase in nest size.