Newly depolymerized large organic N contributes directly to amino acid uptake in young maize plants.

The contribution of large molecular size organic nitrogen (N) to plant N uptake is unclear. Soils with and without maize, at three pH levels, were treated with (carbon-14 and -13 ( C, C), N) triple-labelled > 100 kDa organic N. After 48 h, soil and maize were sampled for bulk and compound specific isotope analysis to study the turnover in soil and plant C and N uptake.