
%0 Journal Article
%A Chapman, LS 
%A Haysom, MBC 
%A Saffigna, PG 
%T The recovery of <sup>15</sup>N from labelled urea fertilizer in crop components of sugarcane and in soil profiles
%J Australian Journal of Agricultural Research
%D 1994/10/01
%V 45
%N 7
%P 1577-1585
%K sugarcane;urea;15N;recovery;crop;soil
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AR9941577
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AR9941577 
%X Trash conservation measures associated with burnt and green harvested cane, and minimum tillage, are being adopted by canegrowers. These new management systems pose questions about how to apply N fertilizers. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of fertilizer N uptake by the crop. Urea, labelled with 15N , was either broadcast or buried in three trash management systems: with and without trash after harvesting cane burnt, and with trash after harvesting cane green. The proportion of applied fertilizer-N recovered in a cane crop was 33% when labelled urea was buried, and 18% when broadcast. The presence of trash mulches from burnt or green harvested cane had negligible effects on the uptake of fertilizer-N. Of fertilizer-N applied, 25% was detected in soil 12 months after application, and there was no difference between burying and broadcasting urea. The fate of the lost fertilizer-N was not determined. Leaching did not appear to be a significant loss process in this gleyed podzolic soil, but ammonia volatilization probably occurred when urea was broadcast and it is suspected that denitrification accounted for the majority of the fertilizer-N losses. 
