Nitrogen release in virgin and cultivated organic cranberry soils
2002
Davenport, J.R. | Patten, K.D.
Commercial production of cranberries (Vaccinum macrocarpon L.) requires annual fertilizer inputs. However, over supply of nitrogen (N) can lead to an abundance of vegetative production at the expense of fruit production. In the North American Pacific Northwest, a high percentage of cranberry production is on organic soils. On these soils, there is a range of situations where plants on some fields can tolerate N applications whereas on other fields any application of N leads to a reduction in crop yield and fruit quality. This project was initiated to evaluate the N mineralization and nitrification potential of both undisturbed (virgin) organic soils and organic soils that have been under intensive cranberry production for at least 20 years. The virgin soils characteristically maintain high soil moisture contents and higher % organic carbon. The total amount of mineral N (nitrate and ammonium) generated in cultivated and virgin soils did not differ over the duration of this study. Mineral N in cultivated soils was predominantly in the nitrate form whereas in the virgin soils ammonium N was dominant.
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