H. Talpaz
P. Fine
B. Bar‐Yosef
Accurate prediction of nitrogen mineralization in soils requires reliable parameters which are determined in incubation experiments. The estimated values of the potentially mineralizable organic nitrogen (No) and the mineralization rate constant (k) also depend on the mathematical analysis of the incubation results. Analysis of data by other researchers (Stanford and Smith, 1972) by a nonlinear regression procedure gave estimates of No and k which differed from those obtained by a linear regression technique. Theoretical considerations show that the difference between the two techniques results mainly from the specified behavior of the error term in the mineralization rate equation. The nonlinear regression procedure is shown to be preferable to the linear regression technique.
