The Bremner Contribution to Nitrogen Research in Australia.

Good research and advances in knowledge can only be achieved if reliable techniques are available. Jack Bremner and his colleagues ensured that we had precise and accurate methods for the analysis of total nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, amino acids, amino sugars, urea and nitrogen isotopes in soil. They also developed methods for measuring denitrification, gas chromatographic techniques for the analysis of gaseous forms of nitrogen, procedures for assessing the availability of soil nitrogen for plants, and chamber methods for determining nitrous oxide emission from soils. Stan Waring, University of Queensland, assisted with the development of an anaerobic method for assessing available nitrogen in soils, and Lyle Douglas, University of Melbourne, helped to develop techniques for the determination of urea and urease activity in soil. John Burford, University of Adelaide and Jack showed that analysis of soils for mineralizable carbon or water-soluble organic carbon provides a good index of their capacity for denitrification of nitrate, and Ray Storrier from the NSW Department of Agriculture, Wagga Wagga, and Jack worked out a method to measure the amount of the phosphate free detergent nitrilotriacetic acid in soil. The isotopic techniques that Jack developed allowed Deli Chen and Phil Chalk, the University of Melbourne, to show that farmer’s fertilizer practices were inefficient and that up to 92% of the fertilizer nitrogen applied to cotton was lost by denitrification. The chamber techniques for measuring nitrous oxide emission allowed determination of the importance of agricultural practices on nitrous oxide emission from Australia and its contribution to global warming. Jack Bremner was a collaborator, competitor, critic, story teller and entertainer, but most of all he was a friend who brought a lot of joy into my life and that of my family.