Fertilizer N and SOC in managed landscapes: Coupled, confounded and confused

GROVE, J.H.; PENA-YEWTUKHIW, E.M.; DÍAZ-ZORITA, M.; BLEVINS, R.L.

Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Simposio; International Symposium on Soil Organic Matter Dynamics: Land Use, Management and Global Change; 2009

Colorado State University

Fertilizer N stimulates crop productivity, but much  fixed carbon, and inmobilized nitrogen, leaves the field. Wothin a given environment, microbial transformations of substrates tend to conserve N, relative to C. Inputs of N to managed landscapes may at times, offer opportunities for greater SOC formation. If the manager can couple inorganic N and C inflows to cause more autotrophic, and/or heterotrophic, biomass formation. Maintenance of SOC in managed landscapes requires that the land manager understand (manipulate) these temporal opportunities.