Increased N fertilizer efficiency in crop production is essential for agronomic, economic, and environmental improvement. In order to increase efficiency, a basic knowledge of fertilizer-soil-crop relationships and components is required. Nitrogen components in the soil-corn system were determined on two soils (Chicot sandy clay loam, Grey Brown Luvisol; Ste. Rosalie clay, Humic Gleysol). Fall soil NO$ sb3 sp-$-N levels increased linearly with increasing N rates above the 170 kg ha$ sp{-1}$ N rate. Changes in soil NO$ sb3 sp-$-N over winter were a function of both fall soil NO$ sb3 sp-$-N levels and winter precipitation. Denitrification rates during the non-growing season ranged from 7 to 24 kg N ha$ sp{-1}$, mainly dependent on N fertilizer rates the previous growing season on the Ste. Rosalie soil. Denitrification losses were a small portion of NO$ sb3 sp-$ disappearance over the non-growing season. Almost all fertilizer N at 170 kg N ha$ sp{-1}$ was recovered as crop N, clay fixed NH$ sb4 sp+$ and organic immobilized N at the end of the growing season, where at 400 kg ha$ sp{-1}$ N fall mineral N and unaccounted for N were a major component of the N fractions. High rates (400 kg N ha$ sp{-1}$) compared to normal rates (170 kg N ha$ sp{-1}$) resulted in some increase in yield, greater microbial activity and greater soil organic N, and a significant loss of fertilizer N by denitrification or leaching.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.39426 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Liang, Baochang |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Renewable Resources.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001304985, proquestno: NN80379, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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