Nitrogen Budget of a Spruce Forest Ecosystem After Six-year Addition of Ammonium Sulphate in Southwest Sweden

A nitrogen (N) budget was constructed for a period of 6 years (1988–1993) in a Norway spruce stand with current deposition of 19 kg N and 22 kg S ha−1 year−1. The stand was fertilized annually by addition of 100 kg N and 114 kg S ha−1 (NS). Above and below ground biomass, litterfall, fine- root litter production, soil solution and net mineralization were measured to estimate pools, fluxes and accumulation of nitrogen. The average needle litterfall in control (C) and NS plots in 1993 was 2.2 and 2.5 ton ha−1 year−1, respectively. The fine root litter production prior to treatment (1987) was 4.4 ton ha−1 year−1 and after treatment (1993) it was 4.5 and 3.9 ton ha−1 year−1 in C and NS plots, respectively. Net N mineralization in the soil profile down to 50 cm was estimated to be 86 and 115 kg ha−1 year−1 in C and NS plots, respectively in 1992. During the treatment period the uptake of N in the needle biomass in C and NS plots was 29 and 77 kg ha−1 year−1, respectively. No N was accumulated in needles of C plot where the NS plots accumulated 34 kg ha−1 year−1. Of the annually added inorganic N to NS plots 47% was accumulated in the above and below ground biomass and 37% in the soil. N fluxes via fine-root litter production in the C plots were much higher (54 kg ha−1 year−1) than that via litterfall (29 kg ha−1 year−1). The corresponding values in the NS plots were 65 and 43 kg ha−1 year−1, respectively. Most of the net N mineralization occurred in the FH layer and upper mineral soil. It is concluded that fine root litter and litterfall play an important role in the cycling of N. Despite a high N uptake the losses of N in litterfall and fine root litter resulted in an incorporation of N in soil organic matter.