A greenhouse study measured the extent to which fertilizer N 15 immobilized during decomposition of straw becomes available for plants. Less than one‐half of the immobilized fertilizer N 15 was released for plant uptake during four successive croppings in the greenhouse. The crops were beets, barley, and two of corn. Fractionation of the soil N showed that about 75% of the N taken up by the plants was derived from the nondistillable acid‐soluble N fraction. Fertilizer N 15 immobilized in this fraction was utilized at a faster rate by plants than the N initially present in this fraction.
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Stewart et al. (1963) studied this question.