一项研究发现，植物不会全部吸收施到土壤中的氮基合成化肥，该研究发现剩余的化肥可能对周围环境产生至少80年的影响。
Mathieu Sebilo及其同事通过同位素“标记”化肥使其留下可探测的特征，从而研究了硝酸盐化肥的长期命运。这些化肥于1982年被施在了法国的一块农田中，种植者在这里轮番种植糖用甜菜和冬小麦。在施肥之后30年，
这组作者报告说，这些作物吸收了所施化肥的至多61%-65%，而12%到15%的化肥仍然残留在土壤有机质中。残留的化肥的大部分已经向地下水泄漏。这组作者预测，这些化肥将在该地的环境中至少留存另外50年。由于氮可能污染饮用水源以及淡水和沿海生态系统，它在土壤中的存在引起了担忧。
这组作者指出，由于人口增长和对食品的需求，在许多地区，来自合成化肥的氮如今超过了天然的氮的含量。这组作者说，当试图减少水的农业硝酸盐污染的时候，过去施用合成化肥的长期遗产必须被考虑进去。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the United States of America doi: 10.1073/pnas.1305372110
Long-term fate of nitrate fertilizer in agricultural soils
Mathieu Sebiloa，1， Bernhard Mayerb， Bernard Nicolardotc，
Pinayd， and André Mariottia
Increasing diffuse nitrate loading of surface waters and groundwater has emerged as a major problem in many agricultural areas of the world， resulting in contamination of drinking water resources in aquifers as well as eutrophication of freshwaters and coastal marine ecosystems. Although empirical correlations between application rates of N fertilizers to agricultural soils and nitrate contamination of adjacent hydrological systems have been demonstrated， the transit times of fertilizer N in the pedosphere–hydrosphere system are poorly understood. We investigated the fate of isotopically labeled nitrogen fertilizers in a three–decade-long in situ tracer experiment that quantified not only fertilizer N uptake by plants and retention in soils， but also determined to which extent and over which time periods fertilizer N stored in soil organic matter is rereleased for either uptake in crops or export into the hydrosphere. We found that 61–65% of the applied fertilizers N were taken up by plants， whereas 12–15% of the labeled fertilizer N were still residing in the soil organic matter more than a quarter century after tracer application. Between 8–12% of the applied fertilizer had leaked toward the hydrosphere during the 30-y observation period. We predict that additional exports of 15N-labeled nitrate from the tracer application in 1982 toward the hydrosphere will continue for at least another five decades. Therefore， attempts to reduce agricultural nitrate contamination of aquatic systems must consider the long-term legacy of past applications of synthetic fertilizers in agricultural systems and the nitrogen retention capacity of agricultural soils.
