Ilmari Schalin

On the effect of nitrogen fertilization on the bacteria and microfungi in humus layer.

Schalin I. (1967). On the effect of nitrogen fertilization on the bacteria and microfungi in humus layer. Silva Fennica vol. 1 no. 3 article id 4751. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14535

Abstract

During the summer and fall of 1966 changes brought about by urea, calcium ammonium nitrate, nitrate of lime, and ammonium sulphate were observed. Application of the fertilizers corresponded to 100 kg/N per hectare.

The effect of urea was immediate. The pH rose and the bacterial density increased to 20–30 times more than determined in the spring, while the microfungal density decreased to one third of the spring density. In the ammonium sulphate plot opposite changes occurred almost as rapidly as in the previous case. A gradually increasing biological activity observed after application of calcium ammonium nitrate and of lime fertilizers seemed almost the same for bacteria and microfungi. Both microbe groups displayed consistent quantitative growth. pH 4.3 was the limit of acidity below which the bacteria showed a tendency to decline and the microfungi to increase, while the opposite was true above this limit.

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Keywords
nitrogen; forest soil; humus; fungi; microfungi; fertilizing; bacteria; lime

Published in 1967

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a14535 | Download PDF