Effects of nickel and nitrogen soil fertilization on lettuce growth and urease activity

Abstract

SUMMARYNickel is a micronutrient involved in nitrogen metabolism and a constituent of the urease molecule. Plant growth and urease activity were evaluated in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) grown in soil-filled pots in a 2 x 8 factorial design with two nitrogen (N) sources and eight Ni rates, with five replications. Nitrogen was applied at 200 mg dm -3 (half the dose incorporated into the soil at seedling transplanting and half top-dressed later) using the sources NH 4 NO 3 (AN) and CO(NH 2 ) 2 (Ur). The Ni treatments (0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 32 mg dm -3 ) were applied as NiCl 2 . The shoot dry-matter yield, leaf urease activity, Ni levels in the lettuce leaves and Ni levels extracted from soil with Mehlich-3 (M-3) and DTPA were determined. In the plants supplied with AN , the shoot dry-matter yield was higher than in those supplied with Ur. There was no difference in shoot dry matter in response to soil-applied Ni. The leaf urease activity increased with Ni application, regardless of the N source. The extractions with M-3 and DTPA were efficient to evaluate Ni availability for lettuce in the Red-Yellow Latosol. Ni (0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24

Searching for the Correlation Between the Activity of Urease and the Content of Nickel in the Soil Samples: The Role of Metal Speciation

“…The fact that the urease activity was highly correlated with the concentration of nickel in its most available form (Fig. 3a), is not surprising and can be expected if based on the results of the data in literature (Marschner 1995;Vahed et al 2011;Oliveira et al 2013;Zhang et al 2014). However, the second strongly positive correlation found in our experiments, between the urease activity and the nickel content in the socalled residual form (Fig.…”

Is the climate change mitigation effect of enhanced silicate weathering governed by biological processes?

“…Interestingly, the addition of Ni—the urease co‐factor present in several silicate materials—may aid in this regard. Laboratory studies have shown that supplementation of Ni to the soil increased the health and growth rate of lettuce plants (Khoshgoftarmanesh et al, 2011; Oliveira et al, 2013). Adding silicate materials containing Ni may thus stimulate biomineralization of CaCO 3 by urease, and hence C sequestration (Bachmeier et al, 2002), while at the same time stimulating plant growth and reducing urea volatilization.…”

Forma de aplicação de níquel, cobalto e molibdênio em sistema plantio direto na cultura da soja

“…Autores como Oliveira (2013), constataram aumento da atividade da urease em folhas de alface com a utilização de doses de níquel, e Rodak et al (2012) observaram, com o níquel, também um incremento na produção da soja. Todavia, relataram aumento de Ni nas folhas ao aplicar fertilizantes à base deste, porém não verificaram aumento na produção da soja.…”