2.4. Calculation of N transfer
The fraction of N in the grass derived from G. sepium(%N
transf
)
was calculated (Sierra et al., 2007):
%N
transf
¼
d
15
Nso d
15
Nog
d
15
Nso d
15
Nex
100 (3)
where d
15
N is the per mill
15
N enrichment relative to atmospheric
N (i.e. 0.3663%);d
15
Nso
is the reference value corresponding to the
grass growing without contact with the leguminous tree, and
represents N coming from soil mineral N; d
15
Nex
is the reference
value corresponding to the tree N source, and represents N coming
from tree exudates; d
15
Nog
corresponds to the grass in the open
grassland which takes N from both N sources (i.e. soil mineral N
and exudates). The value of d
15
Nso
was set equal to that estimated
bySierra and Nygren (2006) in a study carried out in the same plot
used in the present work ( d
15
Nso
= 3.47). The value of d
15
Nex
was set
equal to that measured by Sierra et al. (2007) in a greenhouse
experiment carried out with G. sepium trees originating from the
same agroforestry plot used in this study ( d
15
Nex
= 0.42).
The amount of grass N derived from the tree (in mg N m
2
) was
calculated by multiplying the total amount of grass N by %N
transf
.
The amount of grass N derived from the soil was calculated as the
difference between the total amount of grass N and the amount of
grass N derived from the tree.