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. 1985 Dec;50(6):1519–1525. doi: 10.1128/aem.50.6.1519-1525.1985

Nitrous Oxide Emission Associated with Autotrophic Ammonium Oxidation in Acid Coniferous Forest Soil

Pertti J Martikainen 1
PMCID: PMC238791  PMID: 16346951

Abstract

Aerobic N2O production was studied in nitrifying humus from urea-fertilized pine forest soil. Acetylene and nitrapyrin inhibited both NH4+ oxidation and N2O production, indicating that N2O production was closely associated with autotrophic NH4+ oxidation. N2O production was enhanced by low soil pH; it was negligible above pH 4.7. When soil pH decreased from 4.7 to 4.1, the relative amount of N2O-N produced from NH4+-N oxidized increased exponentially to 20%. There was also some evidence that N2O formation was stimulated by salts (potassium sulfate and sodium phosphates). The maximum rate of N2O-N production was 0.17 μg of N2O-N per g of soil per h. When humus was treated with NO2, N2O evolved immediately, indicating chemical formation, but no N2O was formed on the addition of NO3. The amount of N2O-N evolved was 0.6 to 4.6% of NO2-N added. A high concentration of NO2 and low soil pH enhanced chemical production of N2O. There was no accumulation of NO2 during nitrification. The calculations indicated that chemical formation of N2O was not the main source of N2O during NH4+ oxidation. After the addition of inhibitors of NH4+ oxidation the soils contained NO3, but no N2O was produced. The results suggest that enhanced autotrophic NH4+ oxidation is a potential source of N2O in fertilized acid forest soil.

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Selected References

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