Urea Hydrolysis Rate in Soil Toposequences as Influenced by pH, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Soluble Metals

A simultaneous increase in the use of urea fertilizer and the incidence of harmful algal blooms worldwide has generated interest in potential loss pathways of urea from agricultural areas. The objective of this research was to study the rate of urea hydrolysis in soil profile toposequences sampled from the Coastal Plain (CP) and Piedmont (PM) regions of Maryland to understand native urea hydrolysis rates (UHRs) as well as the controls governing urea hydrolysis both across a landscape and with depth in the soil profile. A pH-adjustment experiment was conducted to explore the relationship between pH and urea hydrolysis because of the importance of pH to both agronomic productivity and microbial communities. Soils were sampled from both A and B horizons along transects containing an agricultural field (AG), a grassed field border (GB), and a perennially vegetated zone adjacent to surface water. On average, the A-horizon UHRs were eight times greater than corresponding B-horizon rates, and within the CP, the riparian zone (RZ) soils hydrolyzed urea faster than the agricultural soils. The pH adjustment of these soils indicated the importance of organic-matter-related factors (C, N, extractable metals) in determining UHR. These results suggest that organic-matter-rich RZ soils may be valuable in mitigating losses of urea from neighboring fields. Additional field-scale urea hydrolysis studies would be valuable to corroborate the mechanisms described herein and to explore the conditions affecting the fate and transport of urea in agroecosystems.