ISHS Acta Horticulturae 661: I International Conference on Turfgrass Management and Science for Sports Fields
SOIL NITRATE BIOAVAILABILITY MONITORING IN PRODUCTION AND USE ENVIRONMENTS |
| Authors: | W.M. Sullivan, Z. Jiang, D.A. Haith |
| Keywords: | bioavailability, nitrate, nutrient flux, fertilizer efficiency |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.661.57 |
| Abstract:
Soil nitrate-N bioavailability data at a particular location can be helpful to the sports facility, golf course manager or sod producer. The application of required N fertilizers and risk of nitrate pollution must simultaneously be considered. Conventional methods, such as soil core analysis, do not produce critical information about N absorption by grass roots prior to sampling. In a 3-yr study, we used an ion exchange resin capsule system to continuously monitor soil nitrate-N fluxes at selected sod production and high maintenance environments. Four capsules were placed in the root zone at each site and retrieved at intervals coinciding with management and meteorological events to determine nitrate ion accumulation. The grand mean of nitrate-N flux based on analyses of 636 capsules was 3.7 g N m-2 y-1. Golf greens appeared to have relatively high N flux rates, with mean N flux of 10-15 g N m-2 y-1. Several sod farms also showed elevated N levels, with mean N flux slightly above 5 g N m-2 y-1. There was significant interaction between sampling date and study site, indicating that turfgrass management affected seasonal variation in soil nitrate-N flux. | |
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