Leaching of dissolved organic carbon in soil following anhydrous ammonia application

The transport of anhydrous NH₃-solubilized soil organic matter from surface to subsurface soils may affect subsurface microbial activity. In the present study we determined the impact of anhydrous NH₃-N fertilizer on organic C solubilization and the propensity of solubilized C to leach with percolating water. In fertilized treatments, anhydrous NH₃ was subsurface-banded at 20g N m^-2 in ridge or valley areas of a ridge tillage system. In contol treatments, 0g N m^-2 was banded into the valley area of a ridge tillage system. Rainfall (17 cm) was applied with a drop-type artificial rainfall simulator 3, 10, and 24 days after the fertilizer application. The treatments were replicated twice. Grid lysimeters (15 by 15 cm) were placed 75 cm below the soil surface of a Brandt silty clay loam (fine-silty over sandy or sandy skeletal mixed Pachic Udic Haploboroll). Lysimeters were used to collect percolating water temporally and spatially. The application of N fertilizer increased dissolved organic C concentrations in percolating water when rainfall was applied 3 days after the fertilizer application. However, when the rainfall was applied 24 days after the fertilizer application the dissolved organic C concentrations in percolating water was not influenced by anhydrous NH₃ application. The smaller dissolved organic C concentrations in percolating water with a longer incubation time were most likely the result of microbial assimilation or respiration of solubilized C.