Soil properties affecting volatilization of ammonia from soils treated with urea

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Abstract
The effects of various soil properties on ammonia (NH3) volatilization from soils treated with urea were studied by measuring the NH3 evolved when 20 soils selected to obtain a wide range in properties were incubated at ‐0.034 mPa soil moisture potential and 30°C for 10 days after treatment with urea. The nitrogen (N) volatilized as NH3 from these soils represented from 0 to 65% of the urea‐N applied and averaged 14%. Simple correlation analyses showed that loss of NH3 was negatively correlated (P3 was also negatively correlated with total nitrogen content (P3 from the 20 soils studied increased with increase in sand content and decreased with increase in cation‐exchange capacity. They also indicated that soil texture and cation‐exchange capacity are better indicators of potential loss of urea N as NH3 from soils fertilized with urea than are hydrogen ion buffering capacity or initial soil pH.