Ammonia and nitrogen solubilities in gallium melt have been measured under atmospheric pressure in the 303-673 K temperature range. The saturation solubilities of NH3 and N2 in Ga are of the order of 10-4 mole fraction and they decrease with temperature under standard conditions. Ga-NH3 solutions enable the direct synthesis of GaN crystallites with high luminescence efficiency, as well as the growth of n- and p-type doped crystals. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.