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Losses of Nitrogen by Non-biological Ways

Leaching is one of the major causes of nitrogen losses extending to 20 to 50% of the fertilizer nitrogen supplied to cultivated oils. The most striking loss of nitrogen is in rice soils where more than half of the fertilizer nitrogen applied get lost through leaching. Another factor is the volatiliza­tion of ammonia in soil, often estimated at 5 to 20% of the fertilizer nitrogen applied to soil.

Fixation of ammonium in soils is a minor contributory factor to the overall loss of nitrogen available for plant growth. Such losses of nitrogen by physical causes and by nitrification and denitrification processes can be controlled by the application of certain man-made chemicals. Some of these chemicals have been designed to con­trol the rate of release of nutrient from nitrogenous fertilizers while others retard nitrification in soil by controlling the activity of nitrifying bacteria.