Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T11:16:24.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Denitrification in soil. I. Methods of investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. M. Bremner  and
K. Shaw
J. M. Bremner
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts
K. Shaw
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. Methods of investigating denitrification in soil are critically discussed with special reference to methods based on total-N analysis.

2. A modified Kjeldahl method of determining nitrogen which includes nitrate and nitrite and is applicable to waterlogged soil is described and the use of this method in studies on denitrification in soil is illustrated and discussed.

3. It is shown that rapid denitrification of nitrate in soil can be induced by incubating the soil under waterlogged conditions with organic materials such as glucose and that denitrification can be followed by total-N analyses if the organic material used to induce denitrification is not added in such excess that it also promotes significant fixation of atmospheric nitrogen.

4. The percentage of added nitrate-N lost by denitrification on incubation of waterlogged soils with different amounts of nitrate and sufficient glucose for denitrification was found to be the same whatever the level of application of nitrate.

5. Denitrification of nitrate in waterlogged soil containing glucose was found to be accompanied by a rapid but temporary accumulation of large quantities of nitrite and by the formation of smaller amounts of ammonia. Hydroxylamine could not be detected during denitrification, but it was found that this compound was rapidly decomposed in the soils examined by a process which appeared to be purely chemical.

6. It is shown that denitrification of nitrate in soil is a microbiological process and that the viability of the micro-organisms responsible for denitrification is not affected by air-drying and storage of the soil.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , August 1958 , pp. 22 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1958

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allison, F. E. (1955). Advanc. Agron. 7, 213.Google Scholar
Arnold, P. W. (1954). J. Soil Sci. 5, 116.Google Scholar
Baalsrud, K. & Baalsrud, K. S. (1954). Arch. Mikrobiol. 20, 34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bal, D. V. (1925). J. Agric. Sci. 15, 454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beijerinck, M. W. (1920). Proc. Acad. Sci. Amst. 22, 899.Google Scholar
Bremner, J. M. (1957 a). Rep. Rothamst. Exp. Sta. for 1956, p. 52.Google Scholar
Bremner, J. M. (1957 b). J. Agric. Sci. 48, 352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremner, J. M. & Shaw, K. (1955). J. Agric. Sci. 46, 320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadbent, F. E. (1951). Soil Sci. 72, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadbent, F. E. & Stojanovic, B. F. (1952). Proc. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. 16, 359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckett, J., Dotfield, W. D. & Milton, R. F. (1955). Analyst, 80, 141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, N. A. & Ogg, C. L. (1942). Soil Sci. 53, 27.Google Scholar
Conway, E. J. (1947). Microdiffusion Analysis and Volumetric Error, 2nd ed.London: Crosby Lockwood.Google Scholar
Csaky, T. Z. (1948). Acta chem. scand. 2, 450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delwiche, C. C. & Wijler, J. (1956). Plant & Soil, 7, 113.Google Scholar
Dyck, A. W. J. & McKibbin, R. R. (1935). Canad. J. Res. B, 13, 264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gayon, U. & Dupetit, G. (1886). Mém. Soc. Sci. phys. nat. Bordeaux, Ser. 3, 2, 201.Google Scholar
Glascock, R. F. (1954). Isotopic Gas Analysis for Biochemists. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hauck, R. D. & Melsted, S. W. (1956). Proc. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. 20, 361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlsen, A. (1938). Bergens Mus. Aarb. no. 2.Google Scholar
Kluyver, A. J. & Verhoeven, W. (1954). Leeuwenhoek ned. Tijdschr. 20, 241.Google Scholar
Mann, H. H. & Barnes, T. W. (1951). J. Agric. Sci. 41, 309.Google Scholar
Murneek, A. E. & Heinze, P. H. (1937). Res. Bull. Mo. agric. Exp. Sta. no. 261.Google Scholar
Nathansohn, A. (1902). Mitt. zool. Sta. Neapel, 15, 655.Google Scholar
Niklewski, B. (1914). Zbl. Bkt. (Abt. 2), 40, 430.Google Scholar
Olsen, C. (1929). C.R. Lab. Carlsberg, 17, no. 3.Google Scholar
Panganiban, E. H. (1925). J. Amer. Soc. Agron. 17, 1.Google Scholar
Piper, C. S. (1944). Soil and Plant Analysis. Adelaide: University of Adelaide.Google Scholar
Russell, E. J. (1950). Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, 8th ed. (revised by Russell, E. W.). London: Longmans Green.Google Scholar
Schollenberger, C. J. (1930). Soil Sci. 30, 307.Google Scholar
Shinn, M. B. (1941). Industr. Engng Chem. (Anal, ed.), 13, 33.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, W. (1952). Aerobic sporeforming nitrate reducing bacteria. Delft Doct. Thesis.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, W., Koster, A. L. & Van Nievelt, M. C. A. (1954). Leeuwenhoek ned. Tijdschr. 20, 273.Google Scholar
Wagner, P. (1895). Dtsch. landw. Pr. no. 92.Google Scholar
Waksman, S. A. (1927). Principles of Soil Microbiology. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox.Google Scholar
Wallace, A. & Smith, R. L. (1954). Soil Sci. 78, 231.Google Scholar
Weissenberg, H. (1897). Arch. Hyg., Berl., 30, 274.Google Scholar
Weissenberg, H. (1902). Zbl. Bakt. (Abt. 2), 8, 166.Google Scholar
Wijler, J. & Delwiche, C. C. (1954). Plant & Soil, 5, 155.Google Scholar
Zelitch, I., Rosenblum, E. D., Burris, R. H. & Wilson, P. W. (1951). J. Biol. Chem. 191, 295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar