Nitrogen fixation in paddy soils

The 4 long-term experimental plots (Umbric haplaquept) with different fertilizer treatment at Cent. Agric. Exp. Sta. in Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture, were used for the sites of investigation. The 4 plots were NF (applied with no fertilizer), IF (applied with inorganic fertilizers), GM (applied with green manure and CaCO₂), and OM (applied with manure and inorganic fertilizers). Flooded water, floating weed, upper (0-2cm) and lower (2-10cm) parts of Apg horizon and rhizosphere were collected from each plot before flooding, during flooding, and after drainage. These samples were analyzed for N₂-fixing activity by acetylene reduction method, pH, Eh, and contents of Fe²⁺, NH₄ ⁺, chlorophyll-type compounds, and water-soluble carbohydrates.

The N₂-fixing activity of all samples showed almost the same pattern of change with time: very low before flooding, rapidly increased after flooding, the maximum value at the maximum tillering stage of rice plant, declined afterwards and reached a very low value after drainage.

Rough estimation of the “N₂-fixing capacity” of each part of the paddy field revealed that the most important site of the N₂ fixation was the reduced Apg horizon, that the importance of flooded water and/or the oxidized layer in the N₂ fixation was rather low except in infertile soil, and that the role of rhizosphere in the N₂ fixation could not be neglected also in Japan.

Reduced condition and content of easily decomposable organic substances were judged to be main factors which control the N₂-fixing activity in the flooded soil on the basis of correlations between the Nt-fixing activity and several analytical data of the paddy soils.