Abstract: A field experiment was conducted to measure denitrification loss and N₂O emission from nitrogen fertilizer applied to a field grown with eggplants by soil core incubation-acetylene inhibition method. The results showed that the amount of N₂O emitted from soil (without N fertilizer applied) was N 8.2 kg·hm^-2 , while the amount of N₂Oderived from applied N fertilizer was N 25.6 kg·hm- 2 (8.6 % of applied N) . The corresponding figures for denitrification losse were N 22.8 and N 15.1 kg·hm^-2 (5.1 %of applied N) respectively. The denitrification loss and N₂Oemission amounts of the treatment with N fertilizer applied were significantly higher than that of the treatment without N fertilizer applied ( P < 0.01) . These results also indicated that nitrification2denitrification was one of main approaches of nitrogen fertilizer losses in vegetable field. And there were significant relationships between denitrification loss and N₂O emission and soil water content ( P < 0.01) .

Key words: Vegetable field, Nitrogen fertilizer, Denitrification, Nitrous oxide