Effects of soil variables and season on the production and consumption of nitric oxide in oxic soils

Summary NO production rates, NO uptake rate constants, NO compensation points, and different soil variables were determined for various soil types and different soil horizons, and checked for mutual correlations. NO production was detected in all, and NO comsuption in most soils tested. Only soils in a very early state of soil genesis showed no NO consumption activity. NO consumption was positively correlated with soil water and NH₄⁺contents. NO production rates were not correlated with any soil variable. Both NO production and NO consumption tended to decrease from the upper organic to the deeper mineral horizons in different climax soils. The seasonal variation of NO production and NO consumption in a calcic cambisol and a luvisol showed highest rates in summer. The rates of NO production and NO consumption were correlated with a few of the soil variables, but showed no uniform, theoretically comprehensible pattern. However, NO production in samples of the calcic cambisol was stimulated by fertilization with NH₄⁺, but not with NO₃^–and was inhibited by nitrapyrin, indicating that NO was produced by nitrification. NO production made up about 3% of the nitrification rates. In the luvisol, in contrast, NO production was not affected by the addition of NH₄⁺or NO₃^–. Nitrification was also undetectable in this acidic soil, except for a few patches where NO production was also detected.