The ammonification and nitrification in soil of urea with and without biuret

Abstract

SUMMARYA laboratory investigation was made of the ammonification and nitrification in soil of pure urea with and without pure biuret and pure biuret alone. The soils ranged from acid (pH 5·1) to calcareous (pH 7·9). The work was done at two temperatures 5 and 25°C. The time between adding urea to the soil and the first analysis was from 1 h to 1 week. The soil moisture contents ranged from the wilting percentage to field capacity. In all work involving urea, ammonium sulphate was used as a standard to compare rates of nitrification.Biuret had no detectable effect on the rates of ammonification and nitrification of urea. Biuret by itself nitrified in all the soils at both temperatures being slowest at 5 °C in the acid soil and fastest in the calcareous at 25°C.Neither pH nor temperature appreciably affected the ammonification of urea but both had a marked effect on nitrification. The lower the pH and the lower the temperature the slower the nitrification. Ammonium from urea nitrified faster than ammonium sulphate and on the acid soil only ammonium from the urea nitrified.The moisture content of the soil only affected ammonification of urea slightly but had a marked effect on the nitrification, the drier the soil the slower the nitrification. The same observation applied to ammonium sulphate.