Production of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in alkaline saline soil of Texcoco at different water contents amended with urea: A laboratory study

Soil of the former lake Texcoco is alkaline saline with pH often >10 and electrolytic conductivity (EC) >70 dS m−1 with rapidly changing water contents. Little is known how fertilizing this area with urea to vegetate the soil would affect emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and dynamics of N. Texcoco soil with electrolytic conductivity (EC) 2.3 dS m−1 and pH 8.5 (TEXCOCO A soil), EC 2.0 dS m−1 and pH 9.0 (TEXCOCO B soil) and 200 dS m−1 and pH 11.2 (TEXCOCO C soil) was amended with or without urea and incubated at 40% of water holding capacity (WHC), 60% WHC, 80% WHC and 100% WHC, while emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and CO2 and dynamics of ammonium (NH4+), nitrite (NO2−) and nitrate (NO3−) were monitored for 7 days. An agricultural soil served as control (ACOLMAN soil). The emission of CO2 increased in the urea amended soil 1.5 times compared to the unamended soil, it was inhibited in TEXCOCO C soil and was >1.2 larger in soil incubated at 40%, 60% and 80% WHC compared to soil incubated at 100% WHC. The emission of N2O increased in soil added with urea compared to the unamended soil, was similar in TEXCOCO A and B soils, but was <0.2 mg N kg−1 soil day−1 in TEXCOCO C soil and generally larger in soil incubated at 60% and 80% WHC compared to soil incubated at 40% and 100% WHC. The water content of the soil had no significant effect on the mean concentration of NH4+, but addition of urea increased it in all soils. The concentration of NO2− was not affected by the water content and the addition of urea except in TEXCOCO A soil where it increased to values ranging between 20 and 40 mg N kg−1. The concentration of NO3− increased in the ACOLMAN, TEXCOCO A and TEXCOCO B soil amended with urea compared to the unamended soil, but not in the TEXCOCO C soil. It decreased with increased water content, but not in TEXCOCO C soil. It was found that the differences in soil characteristics, i.e. soil organic matter content, pH and EC between the soils had a profound effect on soil processes, but even small changes affected the dynamics of C and N in soil amended with urea.