The Nature and Amount of the Fluctuations in Nitrate Contents of Arable Soils

The study of the fluctuations in the amounts of nitrate present in arable soils is important both from the practical and the scientific points of view. The nitrate supply in the soil is very commonly a limiting factor in crop production in Great Britain, so that any process which increases the nitrate supply tends to increase productiveness, and vice versa. From the scientific point of view the interest is even wider. No soil constituent, not even the moisture, shows such great fluctuations as the nitrates, and none is so susceptible to external influences. Further, the nitrate represents the end point in one chain of decompositions and the amount formed over a given period is therefore a measure of the extent to which this particular decomposition has proceeded.