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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (14): 67-73.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2022-0363

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Determination of Soil Alkaline Hydrolytic Nitrogen by Automatic Kjeldahl Azotometer: Questions and Verification

YANG Shuang1(), YANG Chunlei2   

  1. 1 The Biology and Technique Center of Tibet Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Nyingchi, Tibet 860000
    2 Lhasa Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, Lhasa 850000
  • Received:2022-04-30 Revised:2022-06-26 Online:2023-05-09 Published:2023-05-09

Abstract:

With the developing of modern analytical instruments, a new method was adopted to analyze the value of soil alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen by using the Kjeldahl apparatus instead of alkali solution diffusion method. The similarities and differences between the results of the two methods should be clarified. So the verifying experiment in which automatic Kjeldahl nitrogen azotometer was used to determine the value of alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen of soil was carried out. The content of alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen in soil was determined by both automatic Kjeldahl azotometer and the traditional method, and the correlation and difference of the two methods, as well as the accuracy of nitrate nitrogen determination were analyzed. The results showed that over 75% of the soil samples had significantly different testing values with or without reducing agent under the two methods. Meanwhile, there was a significantly positive correlation between the results of the two methods. The results obtained by automatic Kjeldahl azotometer had higher correlation with the content of nitrate nitrogen than the traditional method. In summary, the soil alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen measured by automatic Kjeldahl azotometer could not be equated to that measured by alkali solution diffusion method, but the testing result still can be taken as a new index for measurement and applied in actual soil analysis.

Key words: soil, alkaline hydrolytic nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, automatic Kjeldahl azotometer, alkali solution diffusion method