{Sol-315}

By
Dr Harmohan Singh Yadav
Dept. Soil Science and Agril. Chemistry
Lovely Professional University, Phagwra
Jalandhar, Punjab.
 SOL315 -Unit III
MANURES, FERTILIZERS AND SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT

Chemistry of macro and micronutrients:

chemistry of soil nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, sulphur and micronutrients.
 Chemistry of Soil Nitrogen
 Nitrogen accounts for 79 percent of the air we breathe.
 The surface 6 inches of a fertile prairie soil may contain 2 to 3 tons of
nitrogen per acre.
 The air above this same acre will contain about 35,000 tons of
inert nitrogen gas (N2).
 Most of the nitrogen found in soil originated as N2 gas and nearly all the
nitrogen in the atmosphere is N2 gas.
 This inert nitrogen cannot be used by the plant until it is changed to
ammonium (NH4 +) or nitrate (NO3 - ) forms
 Basic Nitrogen Processes In Soil-Plant System
A. Nitrogen Gains
 Biological N fixation: Plant microbe symbiotic supply of plant available N
 Fertilization: N Fertilizers or supplements used
 Organic additions: Increase organic matter and potentially plant available N.
 Lightning and Rainfall : Lightning may account for 1 to 50 pounds of plant-
available nitrogen per acre per year.
B. Nitrogen Soil Transformation
 Mineralization: Conversion of organic N to inorganic N
 Nitrification: Conversion ammonium (NH4 +) to nitrate (NO3 - )
 Immobilization: Conversion of inorganic N to organic N
In which way nitrogen is not added to the soil?
A- Biological N fixation
B- Fertilization
C- Organic addition
D- Lightning and Rainfall
E- Leaching
 C. Nitrogen Losses
 Crop Removal: Reduction of Soil N with the crop harvest.

 Leaching: NO3- loss with water and water quality issues.

 Denitrification: NO3- loss by microbial conversion to N gases.

 Volatilization: Ammonia loss from the soil surface

 Ammonium Fixation: Clay Minerals

 Erosion and Runoff.

 A. Nitrogen Gains
1. Biological N fixation (BNF):
a. Symbiotic N fixation:

The Rhizobia species (bacteria) are capable of having symbiotic

relationship
with the leguminous crops by infecting the plant roots and form nodules in them.

 It is in these nodules that atmospheric N is reduced to ammonia in the presence

of enzyme nitrogenase.

 The occurrence of red colour Leghaemoglobin in the nodules indicate the

presence of effective N fixers.
b. Non-Symbiotic Nitrogen fixation:

 Free living Bacteria: Aerobes- (Azotobactor, Azospirillum,

Beijerinicka, Enterobactor and Dexria). Anaerobes- (Clostrodium,
Aerobactor, Methanobacterium, Rhodospirillum, Chromatum,
Chlorobium and Rhodomicrobium).

 Blue-green Algae and Azolla- Fixation in waterlogged rice soils.

 Other species: Nostoc, Aanabena, Calothrix, Aulosira.

 Water bodies: a close associationship has been observed between Blue-

green
Algae, Anabena and an aquatic fern Azolla pinnata.
Ammonium fixation by clay minerals cause N……… in
soil

a. Gain

b. Losses

c. Both a and b

d. None of the above

The color of the leghaemoglobin is-

a. Blue

b. Yellow

c. Red

d. Yellow
Azotobactor is free living nitrogen
fixing bacteria T/F
2. Fertilizer N or Fertilization:
 N is present as either as (NH4 +), (NO3 - ) or both or as amide form.
 Eg. Ammonium sulphate (20.6 %N), Urea (46%N), ammonium chloride (25% N).
3. Organic additions:
 Eg. FYM (0.5-1.5%N), Compost (0.5-2 %N),Green Manure crops (Dhaincha, Sunhemp
etc.), Crop residues (5 to 20kg /ha ).
4. Lightning and rainfall :
 When lightning flashes, the nitrogen gas in super-heated air is converted to nitrate
(NO3
- ) and nitrite (NO2 - ).
 Total N deposition as NH4+ NO3- in rainfall is usually<8 lbN/a/yr depending on the
location.
 B. Nitrogen Soil Transformation
1. Mineralization:

 Organic N to Inorgaic N

 2 Reactions- Aminization and Ammonification

a. Aminization: Conversion of proteins in residues to amino

acids, amines and Urea.

b. Ammonification: These organic N compounds are further

converted to inorganic NH4+
{When pH<7.5, converted rapidly to NH4}
2. Nitrification:
 Process of enzymatic oxidation of NH4+ to NO3- brought by certain nitrifying
microorganisms.

 2 steps oxidation process.

a. Step 1: Production of Nitrite (NO2-) by Nitrosomonas, Micrococcus,

Nitrospiria. 2𝑁𝐻4+ + 3𝑂2 → 2𝑁𝑂2− +2H2O+4𝐻+

b. Step 2: Production of Nitrate (NO3-) by Nitrobactor and Nitrocystis.

2𝑁𝑂2−+𝑂2 → 2𝑁𝑂3-
 Optimal pH is between 6.6-8.0.
Nitrification inhibitors (NI)-

Interfers with the nitification process by direct toxicity to

Nitrosomonas bacteria.

 Nitrapyrin and Dicyandiamide are the most NI

3. Immobilization:

 The opposite of mineralization

 Conversion of inorganic N (𝑁𝐻4+ and𝑁𝑂3-) to organic N.

 If the decomposing residues contain low N, microorganisms will immoblizes

𝑁𝐻4+ and𝑁𝑂3- in the soil solution.

 C/N < 20 Mineralization

 C/N > 20 Immobilization

 The process of conversion of organic N to inorganic N is known as-

a. Immobilzation

b. Mineralization

c. Aminization

d. Nitrification
In the process of nitrification, the production of Nitrate is done
by which bacteria?

a. Nitrobactor and Nitrocystis

b. Nitrosomonas, Micrococcus\

c. Both a and b

d. None of the above

Immobilization occurs when-?

a. C/N < 20

b. C/N > 20

c. C/N = 20
d. None
 C. Nitrogen Losses
a. Denitrification:
 Under waterlogged conditions or in anaerobic soils, there is bacterial reduction
of
𝑁𝑂3−and 𝑁𝑂2− takes place leading to the release of NO, 𝑁2O 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑁2 gas .

𝑁𝑂3− → 𝑁𝑂2− →NO → 𝑁2O↑→ 𝑁2 ↑

 At pH <5.5- formation of NO

 At pH < 60-6.5- 𝑵𝟐𝐎 represents more than half of the N loss

 Organisms: Thiobacillus denitrification, T. thioparus, Pseudomonas,

Micrococcus, Achromobactor and Bacillus.
b. Ammonia Volatilization:

 Loss of nitrogen through NH3 can be take place from soil from both
the mineralized or arganic N and added fertilizer N sources.

 Voltalization of NH3 occurs whenever there is free NH3 in soil near

the surface.

 Losses can range from 5% to 35% .depending upon the soil,

environment and fertilizer management practices.

 NH3 loss is less in flooded soil due to dilution of NH4+ ion in

flood water.
c. Leaching:
 Nitrate (NO3-) is very soluble in water and is not strongly adsorbed.

 It is highly mobile and subject to the leaching losses when both soil
nitrate content and water movement are high.

 Under humid climates and irrigated cropping systems N leaching is

major pathway of N loss.

 Leaching of nitrate must be carefully controlled because it can causes

serious ailments
Eg. Methemoglobinemia or Blue baby syndrome or Cyanosis.
d. Ammonium
Fixation:
 Most of the ammonium gets adsorbed on the cation esxchange sites.

 A part of it subjected to strong adsorption in the interlayer spaces 2:1

clay minerals like vermiculite , micas, smectitie.

 NH4+ ion has an ionic diameter of 2.96 𝐴o which is very close to the diameter

2.8𝐴o of the interlattice spaces in the 2:1 layer silicate minerals.

 NH4+ and K+ (2.68𝐴o) ions compete for the fixations of these minerals by
the clay.

 Fixed NH4+ ions are not available for plants and microbes.
e. Crop Removal:
 With the harvesting of crops there is reduction of Soil N.
f. Soil Erosion and Runoff:

 Water and wind erosion

 Erosion losses are more under fallow conditions than vegetation cover .

 Runoff losses may be high as 70% if heavy rainfall occurs on the day

of the fertilization.

 Proper soil conservation measures is required.

Pseudomonas is involve in denitrification process.
True/ False
The Blue Baby syndrome is caused due to –

a. Nitrite leaching

b. Ammonia leaching

c. Nitrate Leaching

d. None of the above

Ammonium Fixation occurs in-

a. 1:1 type of clay minerals

b. 2:2 type of clay minerals

c. 2:1 type of clay minerals

d. None of the above