Application methods of tracers for N₂O source determination lead to inhomogeneous distribution in field plots

Source determination of N₂O has often been performed using stable isotope incubation experiments. In situ experiments with isotopic tracers are an important next step. However, the challenge is to distribute the tracers in the field as homogeneously as possible. To examine this, a bromide solution was applied as a stand-in tracer using either a watering can, a sprayer, or syringes to a relatively dry (25% gravimetric moisture content) or wet (30%) silt loam. After 1 h, samples were taken from three soil depths (0-10 cm), and analyzed for their water content and bromide concentration. The application with syringes was unsuccessful due to blocked cannulas. Therefore, further laboratory experiments were conducted with side-port cannulas. Despite a larger calculated gravimetric soil moisture difference with watering can application, more Br^- tracer was recovered in the sprayer treatment, probably due to faster transport of Br^- through macropore flow in the wetter conditions caused by the watering can treatment. The losses of Br^- (33% for the watering can, 28% for the sprayer treatment) are equivalent to potential losses of isotopic tracer solutions. For application of 60 at% ¹⁵NH₄ ⁺, this resulted in theoretical enrichments of 44-53 at% in the upper 2.5 cm and 7-48 at% in 5-10 cm. As there was hardly any NO₃ ^- in the soil, extrapolations for ¹⁵NO₃ ^- calculated enrichments were 57-59 at% in the upper 2.5 cm and 26-57 at% in 5-10 cm. Overall, no method, including the side-port cannulas, was able to achieve a homogeneous distribution of the tracer. Future search for optimal tracer application should therefore investigate methods that utilize capillary forces and avoid overhead pressure. We recommend working on rather dry soil when applying tracers, as tracer recovery was larger here. Furthermore, larger amounts of tracer lead to more uniform distributions. Further studies should also investigate the importance of plant surfaces.