Limited information is available regarding the recovery and loss of fertilizer nitrogen (N) applied to intensively managed tropical grass pastures. An experiment was carried out in Brazil to determine the fertilizer-N recovery and ammonia volatilization loss in an elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum, Schum.) pasture fertilized with 100 kg N ha )1 as urea or ammonium sulphate, labelled with 15 N, in late summer (LS) or in midautumn (MA). Herbage mass was highest and litter mass was lowest in LS (P < 0AE05). The N concentration of herbage was highest in autumn (P < 0AE05) and the total N content in soil was lower in LS than in MA (P < 0AE05), reflecting the high N uptake capacity of the grass. Proportionately higher 15 N recovery in litter mass (P < 0AE05) was observed in autumn (0AE094) than in LS (0AE0397) and the 15 N recovery in herbage was 0AE046 higher for ammonium sulphate-fertilized pastures (P < 0AE05; proportionately 0AE243 for ammonium sulphate and 0AE197 for urea). Around 0AE60 of the fertilizer-15 N recovered was retained in soil and in non-harvestable fractions of the plant. The NH 3 volatilization loss was higher in LS and most of the N loss occurred soon after fertilizer application. Urea and ammonium sulphate fertilizers were equally effective in sustaining herbage dry matter yield in the short term. However, the use of ammonium sulphate, rather than urea, would be preferable for LS applications when the objective is to reduce NH 3 volatilization losses.