Relationships between denitrification rate and determinant soil properties under barley

Abstract

To better understand environmental regulation of denitrification, we examined relationships between denitrification rate and six determinant soil properties: moisture content, air-filled porosity, NO3− content, respiration rate, mineralizable-C concentration and denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA). Soil cores were collected on 27 sampling dates over a growing season at a site seeded to barley (Hordeum vulgare). Denitrification rate was measured using a static core technique and acetylene blockage. Moisture content and air-filled porosity and, to a lesser extent, mineralizable-C concentration and respiration rate were more strongly related to denitrification rate than was DEA. Denitrification rate was unrelated to NO3− content. On most sampling dates, mean denitrification rate increased substantially only below an air-filled porosity of 0.3. Moreover, the distribution of individual measurements of denitrification rate was less skewed at lower air-filled porosities. Approximately 60% of variation in mean values of denitrification rate for each sampling date could be accounted for by measurements of bulk soil properties, of which moisture content and air-filled porosity were most important. Measurements of bulk soil properties did not account for nil values of denitrification rate at low air-filled porosities or for small-scale spatial variability. Such measurements were better indicators of temporal variation — that is, when denitrification occurred — than of actual rates. Key words: Denitrification, air-filled porosity, denitrifying enzyme activity