Effect of Potassium and C/N Ratios on Conversion of NH4^＋ in Soils

• Published in: Pedosphere Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 539 - 544
• Main Author: TANG Yan WANG Xiao-Zhi ZHAO Hai-Tao FENG Ke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: 有机碳; 矿化作用; 粘土矿物
• ISSN: 1002-0160; 2210-5107

Two soils, one consisting of 1：1 clay minerals at pH 4.5 and the other containing 2：1 clay minerals at pH 7.0, were used to estimate the conversion of added NH4^＋ under different C/N ratios （glucose as the C source） and the addition of potassium. Under lower C/N ratios （0：1 and 5：1）, a large part of the added NH4^＋ in the acid soil was held in the forms of either exchangeable or water soluble NH4^＋ for a relatively long time and under higher C/N ratio （50：1）, a large amount of the added NH4^＋ was directly immobilized by microorganisms. In the second soil containing appreciable 2：1 type clay minerals a large part of the added NH4^＋ at first quickly entered the interlayer of the minerals under both lower and higher C/N ratios. In second condition, however, owing to microbial assimilation stimulated by glucose the newly fixed NH4^＋ could be completely released in further incubation because of a large concentration gradient between external NH4^＋ and fixed NH4^＋ in the mineral interlayer caused by heterotrophic microorganisms, which imply the fixed NH4^＋ to be available to plants. The results also showed that if a large amount of K＋ with carbon source together was added to soil, the higher K＋ concentration of soil solution could impede the release of fixed NH4^＋, even if there was a lot of carbon source.