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Optimisation of nutrients in soil-plant systems: How can we control nitrogen cycling in soil?

Reference	BBS/E/C/00005196
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Penny Hirsch
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	3,034,353
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2012
End date	31/03/2017
Duration	59 months

Abstract

Losses of nitrogen from soil, whether as the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, or to drainage water, is environmentally damaging and also represent a loss of profit and possibly yield to famers because they decrease fertiliser use efficiency. In water, excess nitrate can lead to eutrophication, adding cost in preparing drinking water, and reducing abundance and diversity of biota in lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. Microbial activity in soil is responsible for both nitrification (the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate) and denitrification (the reduction of nitrate to nitrous oxide or nitrogen gas). Some nitrous oxide is also produced during nitrification. Bacterial ammonia oxidizers are less abundant than archaea in many soils although until recently most research focussed on the former. Various factors are known to control denitrification (soil temperature, organic matter, aerobicity and nitrogen content) but the contribution of nitrous oxide by nitrifiers is not yet clear. The project aims to describe the conditions under which different groups of these bacteria proliferate and function, in order to understand the soil management conditions likely to lead to the optimal balance of providing nitrogen for plants whilst minimising losses. The main objectives are: 1. To determine the relative importance of nitrifiers and denitrifiers in soil nitrous oxide emissions. 2. To establish the feasibility of managing soil to ensure that if denitrification occurs, nitrate is fully reduced to nitrogen gas rather than environmentally-damaging nitrous oxide.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Microbiology, Soil Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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