Investigating ammonification and nitrification rates in soil from the Maltese Islands

Abstract

The study set out to investigate ammonification and nitrification processes in 2 agricultural soils from the Maltese Islands and to gain a better understanding on what happens to the concentration of nitrogen-based substances such as ammonium or nitrate when the soil is treated with compost and fertiliser. This area of soil studies in Malta has not been explored much as of yet, therefore this study set out provide a better insight on this topic. The nitrate and ammonium concentrations of before and after stages of a 5-week incubation phase were tested in 3 different soil treatment categories (control, compost, fertiliser). Results from this study showed that when soil was treated with compost and fertiliser, nitrate-N and ammonium-N in both treatments in both soils displayed a statistically significant change. The outcome of these result highlight the importance of ammonia loss from local soils and should be given a high amount of attention when agricultural managers are creating fertiliser management plans, not only to decrease financial costs and improve crop yield but also pollute less the atmosphere, groundwater sources which influence both the human and natural environment which could lead to severe health impacts.

Due to certain limitations such the unavailability of certain equipment and time constraints, other processes could not have been investigated which would have given a better insight to what is causing the changes in concentration. Further studies were individual components, soils from other areas or soils subjected to other conditions could be quite interesting and significant to acquire more knowledge in such a vast and complex topic.