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Applied Manure and Nutrient Chemistry for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment pp 83–98Cite as

Nitrogen Mineralization in Soils Amended with Manure as Affected by Environmental Conditions

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is the most deficient nutrient in most agricultural production systems; therefore, the economic sustainability of most crops is dependent on adequate supply of nitrogen. Consideration for N availability must be taken into account when incorporating animal manure into a cropping system’s management practice. Since N mineralization is the process by which manure N is transformed into readily available forms for plant uptake, understanding how environmental conditions affect the N mineralization process is essential for making manure N availability prescriptions. This chapter discusses the factors that can affect N mineralization and demonstrate the impact of temperature, moisture, soil wetting and drying cycles, and field spatial variability on manure N availability. Our objective is to increase the understanding of manure management in cropping systems in order to maximize N use efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Soil Dynamics Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Auburn, AL, 36832, USA

    Dexter B. Watts & H. Allen Torbert

Authors
  1. Dexter B. Watts
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  2. H. Allen Torbert
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Correspondence to Dexter B. Watts .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    Zhongqi He

  2. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

    Hailin Zhang

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Watts, D.B., Torbert, H.A. (2014). Nitrogen Mineralization in Soils Amended with Manure as Affected by Environmental Conditions. In: He, Z., Zhang, H. (eds) Applied Manure and Nutrient Chemistry for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8807-6_5

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