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Temperature and pH as Limiting Factors in Loss of Nitrate from Saturated Atlantic Coastal Plain Soils¹

ABSTRACT

Nitrate reduction rates under water-saturated conditions were determined for two acid Atlantic Coastal Plain topsoils and their acid subsoils at 5, 15, and 25°C. Nitrate reduction readily occurred in subsoils even at pH values of 4.5 when an energy source was added. It was concluded that the acid pH values which commonly occur in Atlantic Coastal Plain soils is not a serious limiting factor in NO₃^– reduction.

The temperatures of 5 to 15°C which exist in the shallow ground water of the Atlantic Coastal Plain soils during much of the winter limits the rate of NO₃^– reduction. Nitrate reduction can occur in these soils at 5°C but the rate is relatively slow and is highly dependent upon the amount of available C. A significant amount of NO₃^– reduction can be expected during the winter in poorly drained soils which contain relatively high organic matter contents.

Key Words: denitrification • nitrogen pollution

¹ Pap. no. 5063 of the J. Ser. of the North Carolina Agric. Exp. Stn., Raleigh, N.C. 27607. The work upon which this publication is based was supported in part by funds provided by the Off. of Water Resour. Res. Inst. of the Univ. of North Carolina as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964.

² Professor and former Graduate Research Assistant, Soil Sci. Dep., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh. Junior author is now Associate Professor at Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, La.

Received for publication April 27, 1978.