NITRATE-SUPPLYING POWER OF EIGHT GRASSLAND SOILS OF THE KAMLOOPS, B.C., AREA AND CORRELATION WITH RANGE FORAGE PRODUCTION

Abstract

The formation of nitrate in eight grassland soils of the Kamloops, British Columbia, area was studied using a laboratory incubation technique. All the accumulative totals of nitrate nitrogen produced by these soils were low and suggest that the amount of nitrate formed may be inadequate for optimum plant growth. The desert-like soils, although they are regarded as being members of the Brown great soil group, released the most nitrate nitrogen. The Shallow and Degrading Black soils released nitrate in intermediate amounts while the Brown and Dark Brown soils produced the smallest quantities. The correlations between the accumulative total of nitrate released during incubation with: C/N ratio, total nitrogen and organic matter, were not highly significant. Poor correlation was obtained in the comparison between the accumulative total nitrate formed and the forage produced during the period 1954–1957.