Soil Science

Urine patches

Nitrogen deposited in urine patches as urea is particularly susceptible to being lost from the ecosystem in gaseous form.

Soil microorganisms containing the enzyme urease rapidly hydrolyze urea to ammonia and carbon dioxide, which is alkaline.

Under alkaline conditions, ammonium ions are converted to ammonia, which can volatilize. In grazing systems, this may be a major loss pathway for N. Ammonia volatilization can also occur when urea or ammonium compounds are spread over the soil surface as fertilizer.

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