Plant Uptake of Indigenous and Fertilizer Nitrogen from a Cretaceous Shale and Coal Mine Spoils
1977
Reeder, Jean Dolan | Berg, W. A. (William Albert)
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was grown in a greenhouse in incubated and nonincubated samples of a Cretaceous shale, two strip mine coal spoils, and a soil (Cryoboroll) to evaluate the significance to plant growth of indigenous N mineralization and utilization of added NH₄⁺. These “soil” materials contained 730 to 1,190 ppm total N. Plants grown in the shale or fresh spoil took up less indigenous N than plants grown in vegetated spoil or in soil. Incubation did not significantly affect uptake of indigenous N from any of the four “soil” materials. Less N added as NH₄⁺ was taken up by barley growing in incubated than nonincubated samples of shale, fresh spoil, and vegetated spoil. Total-N uptake from incubated “soil” material was positively correlated with NH₄⁺-N + NO₃⁻-N contents of “soil” material samples after laboratory incubation for 12, 21, and 42 days. This study indicated that while initial plant recovery of fertilizer N from the geologic materials equaled that recovered from the soil, fertilizer N added to the geologic material may be less available to plants with time than the same amount of fertilizer N added to soil. The high correlations between mineral N contents of laboratory-incubated samples and total N uptake by barley grown under greenhouse conditions suggested that laboratory incubation tests could be useful in estimating the plant-available N potentials of certain drastically disturbed lands prior to extensive revegetation programs.
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