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Nitrous Oxide Production from Urea Granules of Different Sizes

Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford St., London, ON, Canada N5V 4T3.

Eric G. Beauchamp^*

Land Resource Science, Univ. of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1.

^* Corresponding author (ebeaucha{at}lrs.uoguelph.ca).

ABSTRACT

Three laboratory experiments were conducted to determine if urea granule size or a high concentration of urea prills influence N₂O production in soil. Urea hydrolysis results in a localized increase in soil pH and an increase in ammonia concentration. Such conditions may adversely affect the nitrification process, thereby increasing the N₂O to NO^–₃ product ratio. Also, if anaerobic conditions should occur, the N₂O to N₂ product ratio during denitrification may increase. In general, under aerobic conditions, increasing the urea granule size from a powder to prill (commercial granules) and to larger granules resulted in increased N₂O production. The increase in N₂O production as granule size increased was accompanied by an increase in NO^–₂ concentration. The accumulation of NO^–₂ and the lower rates of disappearance of NH⁺₄, or appearance of NO^–₃, indicated that the nitrification process was adversely affected. The appearance of N₂O was delayed with increasing granule size. A high concentration of urea prills produced a similar but greater effect than large granules. The appearance and rapid production of N₂O was closely related to the rapid disappearance of hydroxylamine and the presence of NO^–₂. The failure to detect hydroxylamine in urea granule-treated soil may have been due to its rapid oxidation to N₂O. The proportion of the added urea N transformed to N₂O increased with granule size but did not exceed 1.24% of the urea added. A high concentration of urea prills resulted in 2.80% converted to N₂O–N.

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