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This paper reports on the fate of nitrogen (N) in a first ratoon sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) crop in the wet tropics of Queensland when urea was either surface applied or drilled into the soil 3–4 days after harvesting the plant cane. Ammonia volatilization was measured with a micrometeorological method, and fertilizer N recovery in plants and soil, to a depth of 140 cm, was determined by mass balance in macroplots with 15N labelled urea 166 and 334 days after fertilizer application. The bulk of the fertilizer and soil N uptake by the sugarcane occurred between fertilizing and the first sampling on day 166. Nitrogen use efficiency measured as the recovery of labelled N in the plant was very low. At the time of the final sampling (day 334), the efficiencies for the surface and subsurface treatments were 18.9% and 28.8%, respectively. The tops, leaves, stalks and roots in the subsurface treatment contained significantly more fertilizer N than the corresponding parts in the surface treatment. The total recoveries of fertilizer N for the plant-trash-soil system on day 334 indicate significant losses of N in both treatments (59.1% and 45.6% of the applied N in the surface and subsurface treatments, respectively). Drilling the urea into the soil instead of applying it to the trash surface reduced ammonia loss from 37.3% to 5.5% of the applied N. Subtracting the data for ammonia loss from total loss suggests that losses by leaching and denitrification combined increased from 21.8% and 40.1% of the applied N as a result of the change in method of application. While the treatment resulted in increased denitrification and/or leaching loss, total N loss was reduced from 59.1% to 45.6%, (a saving of 13.5% of the applied N), which resulted in an extra 9.9%of the applied N being assimilated by the crop.

This paper reports a study in the wet tropics of Queensland on the fate of urea applied to a dry or wet soil surface under banana plants. The transformations of urea were followed in cylindrical microplots (10.3 cm diameter × 23 cm long), a nitrogen (N) balance was conducted in macroplots (3.85 m × 2.0 m) with 15N labelled urea, and ammonia volatilization was determined with a mass balance micrometeorological method. Most of the urea was hydrolysed within 4 days irrespective of whether the urea was applied onto dry or wet soil. The nitrification rate was slow at the beginning when the soil was dry, but increased greatly after small amounts of rain; in the 9 days after rain 20% of the N applied was converted to nitrate. In the 40 days between urea application and harvesting, the macroplots the banana plants absorbed only 15% of the applied N; at harvest the largest amounts were found in the leaves (3.4%), pseudostem (3.3%) and fruit (2.8%). Only 1% of the applied N was present in the roots. Sixty percent of the applied N was recovered in the soil and 25% was lost from the plant-soil system by either ammonia volatilization, leaching or denitrification. Direct measurements of ammonia volatilization showed that when urea was applied to dry soil, and only small amounts of rain were received, little ammonia was lost (3.2% of applied N). In contrast, when urea was applied onto wet soil, urea hydrolysis occurred immediately, ammonia was volatilized on day zero, and 17.2% of the applied N was lost by the ninth day after that application. In the latter study, although rain fell every day, the extensive canopy of banana plants reduced the rainfall reaching the fertilized area under the bananas to less than half. Thus even though 90 mm of rain fell during the volatilization study, the fertilized area did not receive sufficient water to wash the urea into the soil and prevent ammonia loss. Losses by leaching and denitrification combined amounted to 5% of the applied N.

Information on decomposition of harvest residues may assist in the maintenance of soil fertility in second rotation (2R) hoop pine plantations (Araucaria cunninghamii Aiton ex A. Cunn.) of subtropical Australia. The experiment was undertaken to determine the dynamics of residue decomposition and fate of residue-derived N. We used 15N-labeled hoop pine foliage, branch, and stem material in microplots, over a 30-mo period following harvesting. We examined the decomposition of each component both singly and combined, and used 13C cross-polarization and magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (13C CPMAS NMR) to chart C transformations in decomposing foliage. Residue-derived 15N was immobilized in the 0- to 5-cm soil layer, with approximately 40% 15N recovery in the soil from the combined residues by the end of the 30-mo period. Total recovery of 15N in residues and soil varied between 60 and 80% for the combined-residue microplots, with 20 to 40% of the residue 15N apparently lost. When residues were combined within microplots the rate of foliage decomposition decreased by 30% while the rate of branch and stem decomposition increased by 50 and 40% compared with rates for these components when decomposed separately. Residue decomposition studies should include a combined-residue treatment. Based on 13C CPMAS NMR spectra for decomposing foliage, we obtained good correlations for methoxyl C, aryl C, carbohydrate C and phenolic C with residue mass, 15N enrichment, and total N. The ratio of carbohydrate C to methoxyl C may be useful as an indicator of harvest residue decomposition in hoop pine plantations.

In an alley cropping system, prunings from the hedgerow legume are expected to supply nitrogen (N) to the associated cereal. However, this may not be sufficient to achieve maximum crop yield. Three field experiments with alley-cropped maize were conducted in a semi-arid environment in northern Australia to determine: (1) the effect of N fertilizer on maize growth in the presence of fresh leucaena prunings; (2) the effect of incorporation of leucaena and maize residues on maize yield and the fate of plant residue ¹⁵N in the alley cropping system; and (3) the ¹⁵N recovery by maize from ¹⁵N-labelled leucaena, maize residues and ammonium sulphate fertilizer. Leucaena residues increased maize crop yield and N uptake although they did not entirely satisfy the N requirement of the alley crop. Additional N fertilizer further increased the maize yield and N uptake in the presence of leucaena residues. Placement of leucaena residues had little effect on the availability of N to maize plants over a 2 month period. The incorporation of leucaena residues in the soil did not increase the recovery of leucaena ¹⁵N by maize compared with placement of the residues on the soil surface. After 2 months, similar proportions of the residue ¹⁵N were recovered by maize from mulched leucaena (6.3%), incorporated leucaena (6.1%) and incorporated maize (7.6%). By the end of one cropping season (3 months after application) about 9% of the added ¹⁵N was taken up by maize from either N-labelled leucaena as mulch or ¹⁵N-labelled maize residues applied together with unlabelled fresh leucaena prunings as mulch. The recovery of the added ¹⁵N was much higher (42.7%) from the ¹⁵N-labelled ammonium sulphate fertilizer at 40 kg N ha⁻¹ in the presence of unlabelled leucaena prunings. Most of the added ¹⁵N recovered in the 200 cm soil profile was distributed in the top 25 cm soil with little leached below that. About 27-41% of the leucaena ¹⁵N was apparently lost, largely through denitrification from the soil and plant system, in one cropping season. This compared with 35% of the fertilizer ¹⁵N lost when the N fertilizer was applied in the presence of prunings.

Carbon isotope composition (δ13C), oxygen isotope composition (δ18O), and nitrogen concentration (Nmass) of branchlet tissue at two canopy positions were assessed for glasshouse seedlings and 9-year-old hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii Ait. ex D. Don) trees from 22 open-pollinated families grown in 5 blocks of a progeny test at a water-limited and nitrogen-deficient site in southeastern Queensland, Australia. Significant variations in canopy δ13C, δ18O, and Nmass existed among the 9-year-old hoop pine families, with a heritability estimate of 0.72 for branchlet δ13C from the upper inner canopy position. There was significant variation in canopy δ13C of glasshouse seedlings between canopy positions and among the families, with a heritability estimate of 0.66. The canopy δ13C was positively related to canopy Nmass only for the upper outer crown in the field (R = 0.62, p < 0.001). Phenotypic correlations existed between tree height and canopy δ13C (R = 0.37–0.41, p < 0.001). Strong correlations were found between family canopy δ13C at this site and those at a wetter site and between field canopy δ13C and glasshouse seedling δ13C. The mechanisms of the variation in canopy δ13C are discussed in relation to canopy photosynthetic capacity as reflected in the Nmass and stomatal conductance as indexed by canopy δ18O.