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Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions...
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Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II

A special issue of Nitrogen (ISSN 2504-3129).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 12561

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Jacynthe Dessureault-Rompré

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Soil and Agri-Food Engineering Department, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Interests: sustainable agriculture and climate change; C-N-P cycling in soils; soil-plant relationship; cultivated peatland conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nitrogen, the most limiting nutrient for crop production and ecosystems functions, has been heavily studied in recent decades across the world. Although most soils contain a large quantity of organic N, its cycling is extremely complex and dynamic.

Although the scientific community has made remarkable progress in understanding the soil N cycle, there are still significant knowledge gaps, including on the interactions between soil C and soil N, the use of various N sources available to plants such as organic N, and on the influence of rhizosphere priming on N availability. In the upcoming Special Issue of Nitrogen on “Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystem Functions and Productivity II”, we welcome scientific works (original research papers, field trials and case studies, methods, modeling approaches, and reviews) from a broad scope of disciplines ranging from soil nutrient management to soil nutrient cycling and soil microbiology and biochemistry to highlight recent advances in defining and refining concepts and understandings about soil nitrogen supply and its link to plant available N, ecosystem functions, and productivity. Interdisciplinary works are highly welcomed. We aim to highlight original research approaches and to contribute to the successful expansion of knowledge on soil nitrogen processes and functions through innovative works that look beyond traditional views on the soil N cycle.

Prof. Dr. Jacynthe Dessureault-Rompré
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nitrogen is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil nitrogen supply
  • plant available N
  • soil N mineralization
  • soluble organic nitrogen
  • soil proteins
  • rhizosphere N
  • isotopic studies
  • nitrogen sequestration

Published Papers (7 papers)

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14 pages, 667 KiB  
Article
Ammonium Fertilization Enhances Nutrient Uptake, Specifically Manganese and Zinc, and Growth of Maize in Unlimed and Limed Acidic Sandy Soil
by Asif Naeem, Philipp Deppermann and Karl H. Mühling
Nitrogen 2023, 4(2), 239-252; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen4020017 - 19 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1538
Abstract
Although NH4+ fertilization is known to acidify rhizosphere and enhance nutrient uptake, the effects on a nutrient-sufficient acidic soil amended with lime are not demonstrated. Thus, the influence of NH4+ fertilization of an unlimed and limed (3 g calcium [...] Read more.
Although NH4+ fertilization is known to acidify rhizosphere and enhance nutrient uptake, the effects on a nutrient-sufficient acidic soil amended with lime are not demonstrated. Thus, the influence of NH4+ fertilization of an unlimed and limed (3 g calcium carbonate per kg soil) acidic soil on the nutrient uptake and growth of maize was studied in comparison to NH4NO3 fertilization. The pH of limed rhizosphere soil was about two units higher than that of the unlimed soil. The maize plants were grown in pots under greenhouse conditions for about two months. The results showed that the pH of the NH4+-fertilized unlimed and limed soil was 0.54 and 0.15 units lower than the NH4NO3-fertilized soil. Liming negatively affected shoot and root dry matter production, whereas the NH4+-fertilized plants produced higher dry matter than the NH4NO3-fertilized plants, with significant difference of 28% in the limed soil only. Liming decreased Fe concentration in rhizosphere soil from 99 to 69 mg kg−1 and decreased plant-available Mn the most (71%), whereas the NH4+-fertilized unlimed and limed soil had 48% and 21% higher Mn concentration than the respective NH4NO3-fertilized soils. Similarly limed rhizosphere soil had 50% lower plant-available Zn concentration than the unlimed soil, and the NH4+-fertilized soil had an 8% higher Zn concentration than the NH4NO3-fertilized unlimed soil. The liming negatively affected P, K, Mn, and Zn concentrations and contents in maize shoot to a lower degree in the NH4+-fertilized soil, whereas the positive effect of NH4+ on the nutrient concentration and contents was vigorous in the unlimed soil than the limed soil. It is concluded that NH4+ fertilization could be beneficial in enhancing nutrient uptake and growth of maize in both acidic and alkaline soils, despite the higher inherent plant-available concentrations of the nutrient in soil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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21 pages, 5417 KiB  
Article
Cover Crop Termination Method and N Fertilization Effects on Sweet Corn Yield, Quality, N Uptake, and Weed Pressure
by Sachina Sunuwar, Arthur Siller, Samantha Glaze-Corcoran and Masoud Hashemi
Nitrogen 2023, 4(1), 37-57; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen4010005 - 25 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1439
Abstract
Cover cropping is vital for soil health. Timing and method of termination are major factors influencing the agroecological benefits of cover crops. Delay in the termination of cover crops results in greater biomass production. Likewise, incorporation of cover crops during termination often speeds [...] Read more.
Cover cropping is vital for soil health. Timing and method of termination are major factors influencing the agroecological benefits of cover crops. Delay in the termination of cover crops results in greater biomass production. Likewise, incorporation of cover crops during termination often speeds residue mineralization compared to no-till systems. We used four termination strategies for a late-terminated winter rye–legume mix (in tilled and no-till systems) and four N application rates in the succeeding sweet corn crop to examine how cover crop termination affected N response in sweet corn as well as the independent effects of N application rate and cover crop termination method. The experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with four replications. Increasing N fertilization up to 144 kg N ha−1 promoted yield and quality in sweet corn as well as summer weed growth. The cover crop termination method did not affect sweet corn response to N fertilizer. This suggests that when rye is terminated late in the spring before planting cash crops, the incorporation of its residues may not greatly affect the soil N dynamics. This indicates that decisions to incorporate rye residues may be taken by farmers with an eye mainly towards management issues such as weed control, environmental impacts, and soil health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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11 pages, 921 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Alkaline Hydrolyzable Organic Nitrogen as an Index of Nitrogen Mineralization Potential of Some Coastal Savannah Soils of Ghana
by Daniel E. Dodor, Mohamed S. Kamara, Abena Asamoah-Bediako, Samuel G. K. Adiku, Dilys S. MacCarthy, Samuel K. Kumahor and Dora Neina
Nitrogen 2022, 3(4), 652-662; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen3040043 - 16 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1835
Abstract
Numerous biological and chemical methods have been proposed over the years for estimating the nitrogen (N) mineralization capacity of soils; however, none of them has found general use in soil fertility testing. The efficacy of a recently proposed alkaline hydrolysis method for assessing [...] Read more.
Numerous biological and chemical methods have been proposed over the years for estimating the nitrogen (N) mineralization capacity of soils; however, none of them has found general use in soil fertility testing. The efficacy of a recently proposed alkaline hydrolysis method for assessing N availability in soils compared with the standard long-term incubation technique for determining potentially available N was evaluated. The nitrogen mineralization of 12 surface soils incubated under aerobic conditions at 25 °C for 26 weeks was determined. Field-moist soils were direct-steam distilled with 1 M KOH or 1 M NaOH; the NH3 released was trapped in boric acid, and its concentration was determined successively every 5 min for 40 min. The cumulative N mineralized or hydrolyzed was fitted to the first-order exponential equation to determine the potentially mineralizable N (No) and an analogous “potentially hydrolyzable N (Nmax)” for the soils. The flush of CO2 (fCO2) following the rewetting and incubation of air-dried soils under aerobic conditions for 3 days was also determined. The results showed that the Nmax values differed considerably among the soils, indicating differences in the chemical nature and reactivity of the organic N content of the soils, and were significantly correlated with No and fCO2 values. The estimated Nmax and No values ranged from 105 to 371 mg N kg−1 and 121 to 292 mg kg−1, respectively. Based on the simple and inexpensive nature of the alkaline hydrolysis procedure, the reduction in the incubation time required to obtain No (months to minutes), and the strong association between Nmax and No, we concluded that Nmax is a good predictor of the biologically discrete and quantifiable labile pool of mineralizable soil organic N (ON), and the use of the alkaline hydrolyzable ON as a predictor of No merits consideration for routine use in soil testing laboratories for estimating the N-supplying capacity of soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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14 pages, 491 KiB  
Article
Predicting Soil Nitrogen Availability for Maize Production in Brazil
by Lucas Boscov Braos, Roberta Souto Carlos, Fernando Kuhnen, Manoel Evaristo Ferreira, Richard Lesley Mulvaney, Saeed Ahmad Khan and Mara Cristina Pessôa da Cruz
Nitrogen 2022, 3(4), 555-568; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen3040036 - 10 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1566
Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) is a crop widely cultivated in the state of São Paulo, and the sustainable management of nitrogen (N) nutrition is crucial to improving productivity and the environment, which calls for a reliable means of predicting potentially available soil [...] Read more.
Maize (Zea mays L.) is a crop widely cultivated in the state of São Paulo, and the sustainable management of nitrogen (N) nutrition is crucial to improving productivity and the environment, which calls for a reliable means of predicting potentially available soil N. A study was undertaken to evaluate and compare biological and chemical indices of potential N availability for a diverse set of 17 soils collected in the northwest region of São Paulo state. For this purpose, mineralization assays were performed at three distinct temperatures, and chemical assessments were carried out using the Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test (ISNT) and by fractionation of hydrolysable soil N. In addition, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine dry matter and N accumulation in the aboveground parts of maize plants. Potentially available N estimated by the incubation methods increased with increasing temperature and was strongly correlated with N uptake (r = 0.90). Hydrolysable N fractions varied widely among the soils studied and were more variable for amino sugar N than for other fractions. Potentially available N estimated by the ISNT was highly correlated with hydrolysable amino acid N and amino sugar N (r = 0.95–0.96) and also with plant dry matter accumulation (r = 0.82) and N uptake (r = 0.93). The ISNT has potential to improve fertilizer N recommendations for maize production in Brazil, provided that the test values are interpreted relative to an appropriate calibration database, planting density, and other factors affecting crop N requirement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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14 pages, 643 KiB  
Article
Agronomic and Economic Evaluations of N Fertilization in Maize under Recent Market Dynamics
by Yesuf Assen Mohammed, Russ W. Gesch, Jane M. F. Johnson and Steve W. Wagner
Nitrogen 2022, 3(3), 514-527; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen3030033 - 01 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1729
Abstract
An online calculator is available to determine economic optimum nitrogen rate (EONR) for maize (Zea mays L.) production in the USA Corn Belt. For Minnesota, this calculator considers nitrogen (N) fertilizer cost, maize grain price and crop history, and produces a statewide [...] Read more.
An online calculator is available to determine economic optimum nitrogen rate (EONR) for maize (Zea mays L.) production in the USA Corn Belt. For Minnesota, this calculator considers nitrogen (N) fertilizer cost, maize grain price and crop history, and produces a statewide N rate based on maximum economic return to N (MRTN). However, a clear precipitation and temperature gradient, and soil heterogeneity across the state, and recent changes in fertilizer cost and maize grain price require the comparison of EONR from this calculator with results from field study. The objectives of this research were to determine the agronomic and economic benefits of basal and split application of N fertilizer on maize grain yield and yield components and compare EONR from field study with N recommendation from the online calculator. The nitrogen fertilizer rate for the field study ranged from 0 to 224 kg N ha−1, either split or all applied at planting. The results showed that there were no interaction effects of N rate by time or N rate by year on maize grain yield. Maize grain yield had a quadratic response to N rate, and agronomic maximum grain yield peaked at 205 kg N ha−1. The EONR from the field study was 168 kg N ha−1 and it remained stable under a wide range of economic analysis scenarios with net benefit reaching up to 2474 USD ha−1. The N rate from the online calculator at MRTN was 151 kg N ha−1 and this rate may cause N deficiency in maize resulting in a yield penalty compared with the field study results. The field study was performed under specific soil and climatic conditions. Therefore, extensive research under various soil types, agronomic management practices and climatic conditions is warranted to evaluate the online calculator performance and its reliability as a precision tool for N fertilizer management in maize production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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18 pages, 4562 KiB  
Article
Impact of Plant-Based Amendments on Water-Soluble Nitrogen Release Dynamics in Cultivated Peatlands
by Vincent Marmier, Jacynthe Dessureault-Rompré, Emmanuel Frossard and Jean Caron
Nitrogen 2022, 3(3), 426-443; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen3030028 - 23 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1468
Abstract
Drained cultivated peatlands have been an essential agricultural resource for many years. To slow and reduce the degradation of these soils, which increases with drainage, the use of plant-based amendments (straw, wood chips, and biochar) has been proposed. Literature on the effects of [...] Read more.
Drained cultivated peatlands have been an essential agricultural resource for many years. To slow and reduce the degradation of these soils, which increases with drainage, the use of plant-based amendments (straw, wood chips, and biochar) has been proposed. Literature on the effects of such amendments in cultivated peatlands is scarce, and questions have been raised regarding the impact of this practice on nutrient cycling, particularly nitrogen (N) dynamics. By means of a six-month incubation experiment, this study assessed the effects of four plant-based amendments (biochar, a forest mix, willow, and miscanthus) on the release kinetics of water-soluble N pools (mineral and organic) in two histosols of differing degrees of decomposition (Haplosaprist and Haplohemist). The amendment rate was set at 15 Mg ha−1 on a dry weight basis. The N release kinetics were significantly impacted by soil type and amendment. Miscanthus and willow were the amendments that most reduced the release of soluble organic N (SON) and mineral N (minN). The addition of plant-based amendments reduced the total amount of released N pools during the incubation (cumulative N pools) by 50.3 to 355.2 mg kg−1, depending on the soil type, the N pool, and the type of amendment. A significant relationship was found between microbial biomass N, urease activity, and the cumulative N at the end of the incubation. The results showed that the input of plant-based amendments in cultivated peatland decreases N release, which could have a beneficial impact by decreasing N leaching; however, it could also restrict crop growth. Further research is needed to fully assess the impact of such amendments used in cultivated peatlands on N and on C fluxes at the soil–plant and soil–atmosphere interfaces to determine if they constitute a long-term solution for more sustainable agriculture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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8 pages, 1128 KiB  
Perspective
Secondary Immobilization as a Phase of N mineralization Dynamics of Soil Organic Inputs
by Panagiotis Dalias and Anastasis Christou
Nitrogen 2022, 3(4), 600-607; https://doi.org/10.3390/nitrogen3040039 - 01 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1880
Abstract
Current understanding of nitrogen (N) mineralization from organic soil inputs considers three alternative processes: immediate net mineralization of N, net immobilization followed by net mineralization, or exclusively net immobilization. The three processes are compatible and linked with the C:N ratio rule. However, research [...] Read more.
Current understanding of nitrogen (N) mineralization from organic soil inputs considers three alternative processes: immediate net mineralization of N, net immobilization followed by net mineralization, or exclusively net immobilization. The three processes are compatible and linked with the C:N ratio rule. However, research evidence from a number of incubation studies incorporating processed materials like manures, composts, manure composts, or already decomposed plant residues suggest the presence of a second N immobilization phase. The mechanisms and conditions of this process, which is against the prevailing theory of soil N cycling, have not been ascertained, but they should most likely be attributed to impeded dead microbial biomass turnover. The transfer of mineral forms of N to the organic N pool may reasonably be explained by the chemical stabilization of nitrogenous compounds with secondary products of lignin degradation, which occurs late after incorporation of an organic input in soil. Secondary immobilization questions the reliability of the C:N ratio and most likely of other quality indices if proved to be real, even to some extent, while it may also have significant consequences on the management of soil organic additives applied as fertilizers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Nitrogen Supply: Linking Plant Available N to Ecosystems Functions and Productivity II)
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