Characterization of the N benefit of a grain legume (Lupinus angustifolius L.) to a cereal (Hordeum vulgare L.) by an in situ 15N isotope dilution technique

• DOI: 10.1007/bf00336286
• Publication Date: 2004-10-27T11:01:15Z
• Authors: P. M. Chalk; C. J. Smith; S. D. Hamilton; P. Hopmans
• Keywords: Lupinus angustifolius; Isotope dilution

A crop of barley was grown on plots which had previously supported pure stands of lupins, canola, ryegrass, and wheat. The plots were labelled with 15N-enriched fertilizers at the time of sowing of the antecedent crops. The crop of lupins, which derived 79% of its N from symbiotic N2 fixation at physiological maturity, conferred an N benefit to barley of 3.4 g N m-2 when compared to barley following wheat. Lupins used less fertilizer N and less unlabelled soil N compared to the other crops, but the ratios of these sources of N in the plant tops were similar. The apparent sparing of soil+fertilizer N under lupins compared with wheat was 13.6 g N m-2, which was much larger than the measured N benefit. Barley following lupins was less enriched in 15N compared to barley following wheat, and the measured isotope dilution was used to estimate the proportion of barley N derived from biologically fixed N in the lupin residues. This in turn enabled the N benefit to be partitioned between the uptake of spared N and the uptake of fixed N derived from the mineralization of legume residues. Spared N and fixed N contributed in approximately equal proportions to the N benefit measured in barley following lupins compared to barley following wheat.