Potentially mineralizable nitrogen: Estimation of the labile and stabilized pools under woodland and cultivated soils in Mexico

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this work was to evaluate nitrogen pool and its variation due to land uses in different soil orders.

Design/methodology/approach: Alfisols, Entisols and Inceptisols under different uses (woodland and cultivated soils) were incubated for 20 weeks under controlled temperature and humidity. The mineralizable N (NO₃^--N and NH₄⁺-N) was obtained and the potentially mineralizable nitrogen (N₀) was estimated by the method of iterative adjustment. Nitrogen from 0 to 5 weeks was considered as labile nitrogen, and from 5 to 20 weeks was the stabilized nitrogen. The labile nitrogen was described by a potential model, while the stabilized nitrogen was described by a logistic model. The labile nitrogen and stabilized nitrogen pools were estimated after obtaining the first derivate and solving the integral of the potentially mineralizable nitrogen equation.

Results: The greatest estimated amounts of labile and stabilized nitrogen were detected in an Alfisol under woodland use, and the minimum values were obtained in an Entisol under agricultural use. Similar results were obtained for the estimated amount of labile and stabilized nitrogen pool.

Limitations on study/implications: It is important to measure the labile and stabilized fraction of nitrogen, which requires long-term incubations to obtain models of soil N pools, so other methods realiable and faster need to be considered.

Findings/conclusions: The potentially mineralizable nitrogen was positively related to the different fractions of labile and stabilized nitrogen under the different land uses.