The use of the 15N isotope dilution technique to estimate the contribution of associated biological nitrogen fixation to the nitrogen nutrition of Paspalum notatum cv. batatais

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a field experiment to investigate the use of the 15N-dilution technique to measure the contribution of biological N2 fixation to the N nutrition of the batatais cultivar of Paspalum notatum. The pensacola cultivar of this grass supports little associated N2 fixation as evidenced by the low associated C2H2 reduction activity and was thus used as a nonfixing control plant. The grasses were grown in 60-cm diameter concrete cylinders sunk into the soil, and the effects of four different addition rates of labelled nitrogen (NH4)2SO4, were investigated. The data from seven harvests clearly demonstrated that there was a significant input of plant associated N2 fixation to the nutrition of the batatais cultivar amounting to approximately 20 kg N∙ha−1∙year−1. Problems associated with the conduct of such isotope dilution experiments are discussed including the importance of using nonfixing control plants of similar growth habit, the advantages and disadvantages of growing the plants in cylinders as opposed to field plots, and the various methods of application of labelled N fertilizer.