Variations of NO Concentration Released from Fertilized Japanese Upland Soil Under Different Soil Moisture Conditions

Oxides of nitrogen play important roles in atmospheric chemistry. Soil has been recognized as a major natural source of NO, and its emission depends on soil parameters such as soil nitrogen availability, soil moisture and temperature. It is necessary to understand effects of these controlling parameters on soil NO emission. In order to understand soil moisture effects on NO emission, variations of NO concentration and existence of its equilibrium concentration were observed from ammonium fertilized Japanese upland soil prepared for different soil moisture conditions. The closed chamber technique was employed for this study. The significant increases in NO with soil moisture were found. Maximum was occurred at sample ID4 (55% of water-filled pore space (WFPS)), but it decreased as soil moisture increased. No significant NO concentration was emitted from soil sample without fertilizer, but there was significant NO in fertilized soil samples. The magnitudes of NO from soil increased with time and reached at steady state within ten minutes approximately. These results suggest that nitrogen input from fertilizer takes charge in the first step of sharp increase in NO emission, and then soil moisture becomes important factor to control NO emission from the soils. NO concentrations from soil were compared to those one-day after the experiment. Results from the comparison analysis suggest that the soil NO flux might have been stimulated by soil disturbances like mixing, and this is much more effective in dry soils rather than in wet soils. It was found that much less NO came out from soils after a day; suggesting that most of NO was released from the soils within a day after fertilizer application during our experiment. The length of NO releasing time span may depend on the amounts of fertilizer applied, soil moisture condition, and other soil physical parameters.