Determination of respiration, gross nitrification and denitrification in soil profile using BaPS system

A facility of BaPS (Barometric Process Separation) was used to determine soil respiration, gross nitrification and denitrification in a winter wheat field with depths of 0-7, 7-14 and 14-21 cm. N2O production was determined by a gas chromatograph. Crop root mass and relevant soil parameters were measured. Results showed that soil respiration and gross nitrification decreased with the increase of soil depth, while denitrification did not change significantly. In comparison with no-plowing plot, soil respiration increased significantly in plowing plot, especially in the surface soil of 0-7 cm, while gross nitrification and denitrification rates were not affected by plowing. Cropping practice in previous season was found to affect soil gross nitrification in the following wheat-growing season. Higher gross nitrification rate occurred in the filed plot with preceding crop of rice compared with that of maize for all the three depths of 0-7, 7-14 and 14-21 cm. A further investigation indicated that the nitrification for all the cases accounted for about 76% of the total nitrogen transformation processes of nitrification and denitrification and the N2O production correlated with nitrification significantly, suggesting that nitrification is a key process of soil N2O production in the wheat field. In addition, the variations of soil respiration and gross nitrification were exponentially dependent on root mass (P < 0.001).