Influences of soil management on nitrogen dynamics in the soil solution

“Time course of mineral nitrogen content in soil is very dynamic: The combination of several processes leads to quickly succeeding situations of surplusses and shortages for plants and soil organisms. By means of so called “”mineral nitrogen-profiles”” it is possible to identify the course of events and to get a rough idea of the interdependencies between cultivation techniques and soil processes. This way it can be shown that as long as nitrogen fertilization is optimized no large amounts of mineral nitrogen have to be expected in the soil solution during the main growing period of the crops. However this can happen during the period between end of the growing season of the preceding crop to start of the main growing season of the subsequent crop. Because of the importance of mineralisation processes in the soil not only nitrogen fertilization but also soil management can lead to an increase of the mineral nitrogen content in soil. “”Mineral nitrogen-profiles”” allow to plan interventions in the soil nitrogen cycle so that nitrogen mineralization and uptake can be lead to the desired direction and the soil nitrogen regime can be optimized agronomically, ecologically and last but not least economically.”