Nitrogen Mineralization in Organic Rice Fields with Relation to Cover Crop and Soil Amendment.

The restricted availability of nutrients, particularly nitrogen (N), is one of the primary reasons for low yields in organic farming. However, N requirements for cereal crops could be satisfied through biological N fixation in legume based cover crops. A randomized factorial design of amount of cover crop and soil amendment was conducted to determine the effects on nitrogen mineralization during an aerobic and anaerobic incubation on soil collected from organic certified land. The soil was aerobically incubated for three weeks and then an anaerobic incubation was established for other three weeks, with a weekly sampling interval.