Nitrogen mineralization from clover leaves: Effect of soil type and low temperature

Summary

The period following the incorporation of N-rich leys into soil is crucial both for the N supply to the following crop and for the risk of N leaching. Soil-crop models used for exploring the possibility of improving the nitrogen recovery, generally assume that there is a stoichiometric relationship between carbon and nitrogen mineralization. Our aim was to study how temperature and soil type affect the net N mineralization relative to C mineralization of plant litter incorporated in soil. This knowledge is instrumental for improving the modelling of nitrogen dynamics after ploughing.
The experiment confirmed that N mineralization of N-rich plant material occurs even at 0 °C, and that the ratio of net mineralized N to mineralized C is larger at lower than at higher temperature.