Evidence for the production of NO and N2O in two contrasting subsoils following the addition of synthetic cattle urine

Nitrogenous materials can be transferred out of the topsoil, either vertically to a greater depth, or in lateral pathways to surface waters, and they may also become transformed, with the potential of generating environmentally active agents. We measured the production of NO and N₂O in two contrasting subsoils (70 to 90 cm): one poorly drained and the other freely drained and compared this with the topsoil (0 to 20 cm) of the corresponding soils. The soils were incubated aerobically in jars with subtreatments of either synthetic cattle urine or deionised water and sampled at intervals up to 34 days. ¹⁵N‐NO was used to determine the processes responsible for NO and N₂O production. The headspace was analysed for the concentrations of N₂O, NO and CO₂ and ¹⁵N enrichment of N₂O. The soil samples were extracted and analysed for NO, NO and NH, and the ¹⁵N enrichment of the extracts was measured after conversion into N₂O and N₂. The study demonstrated the potential for NO, N₂O and NO to be generated from subsoils in laboratory incubations. Differences in these N dynamics occurred due to subsoil drainage class. In the freely drained subsoil the rates of NO and NO production were higher than those observed for the corresponding topsoil, with mean maximum production rates of 3.5 µg NO‐N g^?1 dry soil on day 16 and 0.12 µg NO‐N g^?1 dry soil on day 31. The calculated total losses of N₂O‐N as percentages of the applied synthetic urine N were 0.37% (freely drained subsoil), 0.24% (poorly drained subsoil), 0.43% (freely drained topsoil) and 2.09% (poorly drained topsoil). The calculated total losses of NO‐N as percentages of the applied synthetic urine N were 1.53% (freely drained subsoil), 0.02% (poorly drained subsoil), 0.25% (freely drained topsoil) and 0.08% (poorly drained topsoil). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.