In article ,
Chuck Banshee wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:43:58 -0500, Brooklyn1 wrote:
If the ratio of brown to green additives to your compost pile is about
25/1, you pile won't smell as it will be in balance
Got anymore dumb billygoat theorys?

It's uncalled for to attack someone's unsubstantiated theory as 'dumb
billgoat' as there may be a basis in fact to the original statement ...

However, in this thread, we're only looking for scientifically proven
data for preventing the nitrogen in urea from gassing off as ammonia.

So, while I won't believe the 25:1 ratio above until/unless scientific
evidence shows it to be be true, I 'can' believe what was implied in the
following references:
- http://extension.usu.edu/files/publi...ion/AG_283.pdf
- http://www.nku.edu/~longa/classes/ca...cs/cabbage.pdf
- http://www.soils.wisc.edu/extension/...nagingUrea.pdf

Basically, these documents tell us from 50% to 90% of the nitrogen in
urea is lost to the atmosphere (as ammonia) when urine is simply poured
on top of the compost pile and left there.

The reason is that some of the urea [(NH2)2CO] is first turned to
ammonium carbonate [(NH4)2CO3] and then into ammonium [2NH4] and gaseous
carbon dioxide [(CO2 gas)] & finally into gaseous ammonia [(NH3] and
water [H2O].

The goal is to force that nitrogen that would otherwise gas off, to
recombine into compounds (nitrates?) that plants can use. I haven't
figured out 'what' compounds these would be - so if you have papers on
that, it would be useful to know.

So far, to minimize the nitrogen gassing, I will employ two techniques:
- I'll maintain the moistness of the compost heap (by sprinkling water)
- I'll cover the heap in clean soil (as I do anyway to deter vermin)

If anyone finds a BETTER way to forestall nitrogen evaporation in urea-
enhanced composting, please cite how (references are always appreciated!).

And, if you know WHAT the process is that converts the nitrogen to useful
compounds for the plants, I'd like to know also.

Thanks all!

Urine has a fertilizer value of N/P/K 18:2:5.
Wow!


Plant Physiology

Nitrogen assimilation and fixation

Availability of nitrogen to plants is often a limiting factor in growth
and productivity
• despite the fact that N2 is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere
Nitrogen can exist in pools of different chemical forms, nitrogen cycle

• reduction of N2 to ammonia=nitrogen fixation (bacteria, lightning,
industrial)

• ammonia is oxidized to nitrite, then nitrate=nitrification (by
some bacteria)

• organics are converted to ammonia=ammonification (by bacteria &
fungi)

• nitrate is reduced to N2, returned to the
atmosphere=denitrification (bacteria)
In taking up and utilizing nitrogen, plants incorporate it into
carbon-nitrogen compounds
Most plants take up nitrogen primarily in the form of nitrate (NO3-)

• except in conditions where nitrifying bacteria don't grow well
(low pH, anaerobic)

• then ammonia (NH4+) will be available for uptake

• many forest species take up primarily NH4+, since forest soils are
more acidic (less nitrification)

• NH4+ leaches less than NO3-, since NH4+ adheres to soil colloids
NO3- is actively transported into and concentrated in the cells by a
NO3- / H+ carrier (symporter)
Assimilation:
NO3- is reduced to nitrite (NO2-) by nitrate reductase using NADH

• addition of NO3- induces the expression of nitrate reductase
(regulated at transcription and enzyme activity)

• nitrate reductase has Mo, heme, and FAD cofactors (Mo deficiency
can lead to N deficiency)
NO2- is reduced to ammonium (NH4+) by nitrite reductase using ferredoxin
(Fd)

• nitrite reductase has Fe-S and heme cofactors

• located in plastids
NH4+ is incorporated into carbon compounds: amides (amino acids) and
ureides
Incorporation into amino acids is primarily by the GS-GOGAT pathway
GS-GOGAT cycle
2 glutamate + 2 NH4+ + 2 ATP - 2 glutamine + 2 ADP

• enzyme is glutamine synthetase (GS)
glutamine + alpha ketoglutarate + NAD(P)H - 2 glutamate + NAD(P)+

• enzyme is glutamate synthase (GOGAT)
--

Billy

E Pluribus Unum

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 16 April 1953