0 the process in which bacteria in the soil use oxygen to change compounds of nitrogen in dead plant material into nitrates which plants can then absorb as food --
Degradation of ammonia to nitrite is usually the rate limiting step of nitrification.
Urease inhibitors are used to slow the hydrolytic conversion of urea into ammonia, which is prone to evaporation as well as nitrification.
Nitrate was higher in samples collected during the afternoon than during the morning, probably as a result of leaching during the night or nitrification during the day.
When samples were incubated under different water and temperature treatments, rates of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification increased more with reduction in soil water content than with increases in temperature.
When samples were incubated under different water and temperature treatments, rates of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification increased more with changes in soil water content than with changes in temperature.
Thus, the method determines only net rates, not gross rates of mineralization and nitrification.
In contrast, a decrease in soil water content from 35 to 25% (with or without increments in soil temperature) had increased mineralization and nitrification.
Nitrification in soils with added calcium tended to be greater than in the control, but the difference was not statistically significant.
