Description
Stable isotopes can be used as tracers for carbon and nitrogen pathways being a great tool to track nutrients in integrated systems. The objective of this experiment was to understand the partitioning of 15N and 13C within cover crop plants when they were labeled with stable isotopes, using chambers under field conditions. Cover crops were planted at the University of Florida, North Florida Research and Education Center-Marianna, located in Marianna, FL. Treatments were four cover crops, in which one was considered a typical cover crop system and the other three consisted of an integrated crop-livestock system with or without the inclusion of legume or different nitrogen fertilizer rates grazed every two weeks. All treatments were replicated three times in a randomized complete block design. Two chambers were built and placed in each plot to label the cover crop plants. For the 15N labeling, 15N2-labeled urea (98 atom% 15N) was applied at a rate of 0.5 kg N ha-1 only once. The target amount of 13CO2 (99 atom% 13C) was determined considering a 20% enrichment of the CO2 concentration present inside the chamber’s volume. The 13CO2 labeling was performed for 28 consecutive days. The labeling technique using chambers and stable isotopes to enrich cover crop species worked under field conditions for both, grass and legume species. Moving forward, this labeling technique can be a useful tool to track nutrient pathways, especially litter decomposition in diversified integrated crop and livestock systems under different management practices.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Novel Technique to Label Cover Crop Biomass Using Stable Isotopes
Stable isotopes can be used as tracers for carbon and nitrogen pathways being a great tool to track nutrients in integrated systems. The objective of this experiment was to understand the partitioning of 15N and 13C within cover crop plants when they were labeled with stable isotopes, using chambers under field conditions. Cover crops were planted at the University of Florida, North Florida Research and Education Center-Marianna, located in Marianna, FL. Treatments were four cover crops, in which one was considered a typical cover crop system and the other three consisted of an integrated crop-livestock system with or without the inclusion of legume or different nitrogen fertilizer rates grazed every two weeks. All treatments were replicated three times in a randomized complete block design. Two chambers were built and placed in each plot to label the cover crop plants. For the 15N labeling, 15N2-labeled urea (98 atom% 15N) was applied at a rate of 0.5 kg N ha-1 only once. The target amount of 13CO2 (99 atom% 13C) was determined considering a 20% enrichment of the CO2 concentration present inside the chamber’s volume. The 13CO2 labeling was performed for 28 consecutive days. The labeling technique using chambers and stable isotopes to enrich cover crop species worked under field conditions for both, grass and legume species. Moving forward, this labeling technique can be a useful tool to track nutrient pathways, especially litter decomposition in diversified integrated crop and livestock systems under different management practices.
