Priming effect of biuret addition on native soil N mineralisation under laboratory conditions

This study was carried out to quantify the priming effect of biuret on native soil nitrogen (N) mineralisation during a 112-day incubation. Addition of biuret (100 mg 15N-labelled biuret kg−1 soil) increased the turnover rate constant of soil organic matter and had a positive priming effect on native soil N mineralisation in two soils. The additional mineralisation was 0.65% of the total soil N (equivalent to 47.1 kg N ha−1) in a sandy loam soil and 0.62% of the soil N (equivalent to 46.5 kg N ha−1) in a silt loam soil.