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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Orono, Maine » New England Plant, Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #205578
Title: Towards National Prediction of Manure N Availability: Soil Influence on Nitrifier Community and Nitrification

Author
item Fortuna, Ann Marie
item Honeycutt, Charles
item MARSH, TERENCE - MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
item Griffin, Timothy
item Larkin, Robert - Bob
item He, Zhongqi
item Wienhold, Brian
item Sistani, Karamat
item Albrecht, Stephan
item Woodbury, Bryan
item Torbert, Henry - Allen
item Powell, Joseph
item Hubbard, Robert
item Eigenberg, Roger
item Wright, Robert

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2006
Publication Date: 11/13/2006
Citation: Fortuna, A., Honeycutt, C.W., Marsh, T.L., Griffin, T.S., Larkin, R.P., He, Z., Wienhold, B.J., Sistani, K.R., Albrecht, S.L., Woodbury, B.L., Torbert Iii, H.A., Powell, J.M., Hubbard, R.K., Eigenberg, R.A., Wright, R.J. 2006. Towards National Prediction of Manure N Availability: Soil Influence on Nitrifier Community and Nitrification. American Society of Agronomy Abstracts. November 12-16, 2006, Indianapolis, Indiana. 2006 CD-ROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The majority of N transformations in the soil are biologically mediated processes. Physical and chemical processes related to soil type also affect the rate of N transformations such as nitrification and ammonia volatilization. Ammonium and ammonia held on exchange sites or fixed by clays can reduce ammonia volatilization and nitrification rates by influencing substrate availability. Different species of nitrifiers have varying nitrification rates and ability to scavenge NH4+. Our research was designed to determine the effect of soil type on NH4+ transformations and availability to nitrifiers. The availability of NH4+ is expected to influence the dynamics and structure of nitrifier communities. Soil samples were collected at USDA-ARS sites across a variety of ecoregions and soil types. Each soil series was used in a 30 d incubation containing a dairy slurry (300 kg N ha-1) amended soil and a soil control. Sub samples were removed at 5 time intervals for analyses of nitrification potentials and community structure of beta-ammonia oxidizers via terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism. Separating out the effect of microbial community structure and soil type on N transformations will improve our understanding of nutrient cycling, as well as, bridge the gap between soil chemistry and microbiology.