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Predicting nitrogen mineralization from organic amendments: beyond C/N ratio by 13C-CPMAS NMR approach

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Abstract

Background and aim

The processes of nitrogen (N) mineralization from organic amendments (OA) is important to provide mineral forms (NH4+ and NO3−) of N for plants. Assessment of N mineralization is usually done by using the C/N ratio of OAs but limits to the predicting capability of such indicator have been reported. Here, we propose a new definition of organic carbon (C) quality based on 13C-CPMAS NMR that provide a more accurate prediction of N mineralization.

Methods

A mesocosm incubation experiment was carried out to assess the effects of ten OA types on soil N mineralization in three different soils. OAs were chemically characterized by C/N ratio and in solid state spectroscopy by 13C-CPMAS NMR. Nitrogen mineralization in terms of NH4+ and NO3− was monitored after 3, 10, 30, 100, and 300 days of incubation.

Results

N mineralization was fast for OAs with high C quality coupled with high N content (e.g., meat powder, fish meal and alfalfa litter), while the same process was slow for amendment with low C quality even with high N content (e.g. humus, alfalfa biochar). On the contrary, a rapid but short-term N immobilization was found for OAs with high C quality but low N content (e.g., glucose). OAs with low C quality and low N content (e.g., sawdust, cellulose, wood biochar and grass litter) showed a slow, but long-lasting N immobilization. We found that C/N ratio was unable to predict the N mineralization for OAs with low C quality. Considering 13C-CPMAS NMR spectral regions, the carbonyl C, and N-alkyl and methoxyl C regions had the most significant positive correlation with N mineralization, while the di-O-alkyl C and O-alkyl C were strongly associated with N immobilization.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that the biochemical quality of organic C defined by 13C-CPMAS NMR is capable of predicting N dynamic pattern better than C/N ratio.

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Acknowledgments

The 13C-CPMAS NMR measurements were performed at the CERMANU-Interdepartmental Research Centre, University of Napoli Federico II.

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Author notes

  1. Giuliano Bonanomi and Tushar C. Sarker contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Agraria, University of Naples Federico II, via Università 100, 80055, Portici, NA, Italy

    Giuliano Bonanomi, Tushar C. Sarker, Maurizio Zotti, Gaspare Cesarano, Emilia Allevato & Stefano Mazzoleni

  2. School of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin’an, 311300, Hangzhou, China

    Tushar C. Sarker

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  1. Giuliano Bonanomi
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Correspondence to Giuliano Bonanomi.

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Bonanomi, G., Sarker, T.C., Zotti, M. et al. Predicting nitrogen mineralization from organic amendments: beyond C/N ratio by 13C-CPMAS NMR approach. Plant Soil 441, 129–146 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04099-6

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