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Fate of NO and NH in the treatment of eutrophic water using the floating macrophyte
Yan Gao1, Neng Yi, Zhiyong Zhang
1Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environement, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China. lucy.gaoyan@yahoo.com.cn
Abstract:
Use of the floating aquatic macrophyte, , to improve eutrophic water quality is practiced on a large scale in China. Limited information is available on the relative importance of the biological NO or NH removal process during the treatment of eutrophic water using . To investigate the key process responsible for the removal of NO and NH, N-NO (9.98 atom % [at.%] N) or N-NH (10.08 at.% N) was added to obtain eutrophic water with or without the cultivation of . In the unplanted water, considerable proportions of the added N-NO (27.13 ± 4.87%) or N-NH (42.08 ± 7.22%) were assimilated by the developed algae. The growth of controlled algae development in the planted water. Furthermore, the cultivation of stimulated gaseous loss of N by microbial denitrification (8.61 ± 1.70% NO-N loss from N-NO-labeled water). Apart from N loss by denitrification, considerable proportions of the added N-NO (62.01 ± 6.93%) or N-NH (76.76 ± 6.21%) were assimilated into the macrophyte N pools. The fine root detritus of contained a proportion of N (4.37 ± 1.39% in NO-labeled water, 2.03 ± 0.52% in NH-labeled water) that will be returned to the water after decomposition. In addition to N loss via NO emission, an unaccounted proportion of N could be mainly due to gaseous loss as N by denitrification (25.00% in N-NO-labeled water with Eichhornia crassipes)
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