Abstract
The relationship between the nitrogen mineralized after the air-drying treatment of paddy soils and microbial biomass nitrogen was investigated. The amount of nitrogen mineralized after air-drying and water-logging treatment increased throughout the air-drying period and reached the maximum level of two weeks of incubation. The amount of microbial biomass decreased during air-drying. The relationship between the nitrogen mineralized after two weeks of incubation following air-drying treatment and the biomass nitrogen in paddy soils was significantly high. The contribution of biomass nitrogen to total mineralized nitrogen was about 20-48% in paddy soils and lower than that in upland soils (45-50%).
