The DENitrification incubation system (DENIS) is an enclosed 12-vessel flow-through system for incubating soil cores and continuously measuring the emissions of a suite of gases.
It is used to investigate greenhouse gas emissions from different soils and amended soils (e.g. with fertilisers and livestock urines, slurries and manures), amongst other things.
This involves gaining detailed information about soil nutrient transformation processes (e.g. nitrification, the conversion of ammonium to nitrate) to improve our understanding of the greenhouse gas emission potential of different soils under different conditions.
The system is particularly valuable for investigating denitrification (the conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas), and specifically soil nitrogen gas production, as the system atmosphere can be replaced so that atmospheric nitrogen is excluded.
The DENIS is temperature controlled, can be used for intact or sieved and repacked soil cores and is equipped for treatment application during incubation.
The system is also linked with an isotope ratio mass spectrometer to determine the carbon or nitrogen isotope ratio of the soil gas emissions.
Finally, further gas samples can be collected manually from the system for other analyses.
For further information please contact Laura Cardenas:
Rothamsted Research
North Wyke
Okehampton
Devon
EX20 2SB
Atmospheric Chemist
Environmental Scientist
