A dataset from a 3-year network of field measurements of soil organic nitrogen mineralization under a mild oceanic temperate climate

Improved assessment and prediction of soil organic nitrogen (SON) mineralization is essential, as it contributes significantly to the nitrogen (N) nutrition of crops and remains a major economic and environmental challenge. SON mineralization is a function of soil properties, land use and climate, which led us to monitor a network of 137 cultivated fields covering the wide diversity of soils, crop rotations and cropping practices throughout Brittany (France). SON mineralization was quantified by the mineral N balance calculated for a maize crop not fertilized with N; it was determined by measuring soil mineral N (SMN) in the 0-90 cm soil profile in March (Ni) and October (Nf) and N uptake by the maize crop, and predicting nitrate leaching (N-leached) using the STICS model. SMN and plant N uptake were measured in triplicate. To predict N-leached , STICS was initialized at the date of Ni measurement. In addition, the experimental design was based on estimating SON for three consecutive years (2012-2014) to improve the accuracy of measuring mineralization. An indicator of the cropping system (I_Sys) was developed that integrated well the effects of crop rotation and the frequency of manure application; it can be considered a good index of effects of the cropping system on SON mineralization. This dataset may be used for a variety of applications, such as analysing effects of soil properties, cropping history and climatic conditions on SON mineralization, or evaluating the accuracy of soil-plant models (e.g. STICS, CERES).

Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.106795