Effect of dicyandiamide (DCD) on nitrous oxide emissions from cow urine deposited on a pasture soil, as influenced by DCD application method and rate

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 350 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Luo ◽  
S. Ledgard ◽  
B. Wise ◽  
S. Lindsey

Animal urine deposited on pastoral soils during grazing is recognised as a dominant source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), is a potential mitigation technology to control N2O emissions from urine patches on grazed pastures. One delivery option is to include DCD in animal feed so that the DCD is targeted directly in the urine patch when excreted in the animal urine. The hypothesis tested in the present study was that DCD in urine, excreted by cows that were orally administered with DCD, would have the same effect as DCD added to urine after the urine is excreted. The study also aimed to determine the most effective DCD rate for reducing N2O emissions. Fresh dairy cow urine (700 kg N per ha) was applied to a free-draining silt loam pastoral soil in Waikato, New Zealand, in May (late autumn) or July (winter) of 2014, and was mixed with DCD at rates of 0, 10, 30 and 60 kg/ha. In late autumn, there was an equivalent treatment of urine (containing 60 kg DCD per ha) from DCD-treated cows. A static chamber technique was used to determine gaseous N2O emissions. An annual emission factor (EF3; the percentage of applied urine N lost as N2O-N) of 0.23% or 0.21% was found following late-autumn or winter applications of urine without DCD. Late-autumn application of urine containing DCD from oral administration to cows had the same significant reduction effect on N2O emissions as did DCD that was mixed with urine after excretion, at the equivalent DCD application rate of 60 kg/ha. Application of urine with DCD mixed with the urine after excretion at varying DCD rates showed a significant (P < 0.05) linear decrease in both N2O emissions and EF3 values.

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coby J. Hoogendoorn ◽  
Cecile A. M. de Klein ◽  
Alison J. Rutherford ◽  
Selai Letica ◽  
Brian P. Devantier

Urine deposited by grazing animals represents the largest source of N2O emissions in New Zealand. Sheep-grazed hill pastures are an important component of New Zealand pastoral land, but information on N2O emissions from these areas is limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of increasing rates of fertiliser nitrogen and of a nitrification inhibitor on N2O emissions from urine patches. The study was carried out in grazed paddock-scale trials at the Ballantrae and Invermay Research Stations, New Zealand. The fertiliser N treatments were 0, 100, 300 and 750 (500 for Invermay) kg N/ha.year. Nitrous oxide measurements were conducted in the spring of 2005 and 2006, following applications of synthetic sheep urine with or without dicyandiamide (DCD) in these four N treatments. In both years and at both sites, N2O emissions increased with N fertiliser application rate in both urine and non-urine affected areas. The addition of DCD to the synthetic urine reduced N2O emissions from the urine affected areas during the measurement period by 60–80% at Ballantrae and by 40% at Invermay. The N2O emission factors for the artificial sheep urine (expressed as N2O-N lost as % of N applied) ranged from 0.01 to 1.06%, with the higher values generally found in the high N fertiliser treatments. The N2O emission factors were generally less than or similar to those from sheep urine applied to flat land pasture.


Soil Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry J. Rose ◽  
Stephen G. Morris ◽  
Peter Quin ◽  
Lee J. Kearney ◽  
Stephen Kimber ◽  
...  

Although there is growing evidence that the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) can lower soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in temperate environments, there is little evidence of its efficacy in subtropical or tropical environments where temperatures and rainfall intensities are typically higher. We investigated N2O emissions in field-grown aerobic rice in adjacent fields in the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons in a subtropical environment. Crops were topdressed with 80 kg nitrogen (N) ha–1 before rainfall, as either urea, urea + DMPP (at 1.6 kg DMPP t–1 urea: ‘urea-DMPP’) or a blend of 50% urea and 50% urea-DMPP in the 2013–14 season, and urea, urea-DMPP or polymer (3 month)-coated urea (PCU) in the 2014–15 season. DMPP-urea significantly (P < 0.05) lowered soil N2O emissions in the 2013–14 season during the peak flux period after N fertiliser application, but had no effect in 2014–15. The mean cumulative N2O emissions over the entire growing period were 190 g N2O-N ha–1 in 2013–14 and 413 g N2O-N ha–1 in 2014–15, with no significant effect of DMPP or PCU. Our results demonstrate that DMPP can lower N2O emissions in subtropical, aerobic rice during peak flux events following N fertiliser application in some seasons, but inherent variability in climate and soil N2O emissions limited the ability to detect significant differences in cumulative N2O flux over the seasonal assessment. A greater understanding of how environmental and soil factors impact the efficacy of DMPP in the subtropics is needed to formulate appropriate guidelines for its use commercially.


Soil Research ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Di ◽  
K. C. Cameron

A field lysimeter study was conducted to determine the sources of N2O emitted following the application of dairy cow urine and urea fertiliser labelled with 15N, with and without a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD). The results show that the application of cow urine at 1000 kg N/ha significantly increased N2O emissions above that from urea applied alone at 25 kg N/ha. The application of urine seemed to have a priming effect, increasing N2O emissions from the soil N pool. Treating the soil with DCD significantly (P < 0.05) decreased N2O emissions from the urine-applied treatment by 72%. The percentage of N2O-N derived from the applied N was 53.1% in the urine-applied treatment and this was reduced to 29.9% when DCD was applied. On average, about 43% of the N2O emitted in the urine-applied treatments was from nitrification. The application of DCD did not have a major effect on the relative contributions of nitrification and denitrification to N2O emissions in the urine treatments. This indicates that the DCD nitrification inhibitor decreased the contributions to N2O emissions from both nitrification and denitrification.


Soil Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Scheer ◽  
David W. Rowlings ◽  
Massimiliano De Antoni Migliorati ◽  
David W. Lester ◽  
Mike J. Bell ◽  
...  

To meet the global food demand in the coming decades, crop yields per unit area must increase. This can only be achieved by a further intensification of existing cropping systems and will require even higher inputs of N fertilisers, which may result in increased losses of nitrous oxide (N2O) from cropped soils. Enhanced efficiency fertilisers (EEFs) have been promoted as a potential strategy to mitigate N2O emissions and improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in cereal cropping systems. However, only limited data are currently available on the use of different EEF products in sub-tropical cereal systems. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of three different EEFs on N2O emissions, NUE and yield in a sub-tropical summer cereal cropping system in Australia. Over an entire year soil N2O fluxes were monitored continuously (3h sampling frequency) with a fully-automated measuring system. The experimental site was fertilised with different nitrogen (N) fertilisers applied at 170kgNha–1, namely conventional urea (Urea), urea with the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP), polymer-coated urea (PCU), and urea with the nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin (Nitrapyrin). Nitrous oxide emissions were highly episodic and mainly controlled by heavy rainfall events within two months of planting and fertiliser N application. Annual N2O emissions in the four treatments amounted to 2.31, 0.40, 0.69 and 1.58kgN2O-Nha–1year–1 for Urea, DMPP, PCU and Nitrapyrin treatments, respectively, while unfertilised plots produced an average of 0.16kgN2O-Nha–1year–1. Two of the tested products (DMPP and PCU) were found to be highly effective, decreasing annual N2O losses by 83% and 70%, respectively, but did not affect yield or NUE. This study shows that EEFs have a high potential to decrease N2O emissions from sub-tropical cereal cropping systems. More research is needed to assess if the increased costs of EEFs can be compensated by lower fertiliser application rates and/or yield increases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. N. Ward ◽  
K. B. Kelly ◽  
J. W. Hollier

Nitrous oxide (N2O) from excreta deposited by grazing ruminants is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Experiments to measure N2O emissions from dairy cow dung, urine and pond sludge applied to pasture, and the effectiveness of the nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin in reducing these emissions, were conducted in south-western Victoria, Australia. In Experiment 1, emissions from urine, with and without nitrapyrin, and from dung were measured. Treatments applied in September 2013 resulted in cumulative emissions (245 days) of 0.60, 5.35, 4.15 and 1.02 kg N2O-nitrogen (N)/ha for the nil, urine (1000 kg N/ha), urine (1000 kg N/ha) + nitrapyrin (1 kg active ingredients/ha), and dung (448 kg N/ha) treatments, respectively, giving emission factors of 0.47% and 0.09% for urine and dung respectively. Nitrapyrin reduced N2O emissions from urine for 35 days, with an overall reduction in emissions of 25%. In Experiment 2, sludge, with and without nitrapyrin, was applied in May 2014, and dung was applied in May, August, November 2014 and January 2015. Cumulative emissions (350 days) were 0.19, 0.49, 0.31 and 0.39 kg N2O-N/ha for the nil, sludge (308 kg N/ha), sludge (308 kg N/ha) + nitrapyrin (1 kg active ingredients/ha), and dung (total 604 kg N/ha) treatments, respectively, giving emission factors of 0.10% and 0.03% for sludge and dung. Nitrapyrin reduced N2O emissions from sludge for 60 days, with an overall reduction in emissions of 59%. A third experiment on two soil types compared emissions from urine and dung, with and without nitrapyrin, applied in different seasons of the year. Emissions were highly seasonal and strongly related to soil water status. Emission factors (90 days) ranged from 0.02% to 0.19% for urine and 0.01% to 0.12% for dung. Nitrapyrin reduced emissions from urine by 0–35% and had little effect on emissions from dung. Overall, the experiments found that nitrapyrin was an effective tool in reducing emissions from urine, dung and sludge applied to pasture, but the magnitude varied across the year, with nitrapyrin being most effective when soils had >70% water-filled pore space when major emissions occurred.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. Krol ◽  
E. Minet ◽  
P.J. Forrestal ◽  
G.J. Lanigan ◽  
O. Mathieu ◽  
...  

AbstractPasture-based livestock agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O). Although a body of research is available on the effect of urine patch N or fertiliser N on N2O emissions, limited data is available on the effect of fertiliser N applied to patches of urinary N, which can cover up to a fifth of the yearly grazed area. This study investigated whether the sum of N2O emissions from urine and a range of N fertilisers, calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) or urea ± urease inhibitor ± nitrification inhibitor, applied alone (disaggregated and re-aggregated) approximated the N2O emission of urine and fertiliser N applied together (aggregated). Application of fertiliser to urine patches did not significantly increase either the cumulative yearly N2O emissions or the N2O emission factor in comparison to urine and fertiliser applied separately with the emissions re-aggregated. However, there was a consistent trend for approximately 20% underestimation of N2O loss generated from fertiliser and urine applied separately when compared to figures generated when urine and fertiliser were applied together. N2O emission factors from fertilisers were 0.02%, 0.06%, 0.17% and 0.25% from urea ± dicyandiamide (DCD), urea + N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) + DCD, urea + NBPT and urea, respectively, while the emission factor for urine alone was 0.33%. Calcium ammonium nitrate and urea did not interact differently with urine even when the urea included DCD. N2O losses could be reduced by switching from CAN to urea-based fertilisers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. e0302
Author(s):  
Noemí Mateo-Marín ◽  
Ramón Isla ◽  
Dolores Quílez

Aim of the study: The use of pig slurry as fertiliser is associated with gaseous nitrogen (N) losses, especially ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O), leading to environmental problems and a reduction of its fertiliser value. This study evaluates, in an irrigated wheat crop, the effect of different additives mixed with pig slurry to decrease NH3 and N2O losses.Area of study: Middle Ebro valley, SpainMaterials and methods: The treatments were: i) non-N-fertilised control, ii) pig slurry (PS), iii) pig slurry with the urease inhibitor monocarbamide dihydrogen sulphate (PS-UI), iv) pig slurry with a microbial activator in development (PS-A), and v) pig slurry with the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (PS-NI). Pig slurry was applied at a target rate of 120 kg NH4+-N ha-1. Ammonia volatilisation was measured using semi-opened static chambers after treatments application at presowing 2016 and side-dressing 2017. Nitrous oxide emissions were measured using static closed chambers after treatments application at the 2017 and 2018 side-dressing.Main results: Ammonia volatilisation was estimated to be 7-9% and 19-23% of NH4+-N applied after presowing and side-dressing applications, respectively. Additives were not able to reduce NH3 emissions in any application moment. PS-NI was the only treatment being effective in reducing N2O emissions, 70% respect to those in PS treatment. Crop yield parameters were not affected by the application of the additives because of the no effect of additives controlling NH3 losses and the low contribution of N2O losses to the N balance (<1 kg N2O-N ha-1).Research highlights: The use of 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate would be recommended from an environmental perspective, although without grain yield benefits.


Soil Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 752
Author(s):  
Graeme Schwenke ◽  
Annabelle McPherson

Nitrogen (N) fertiliser inputs for irrigated cotton production are rapidly increasing to support ever-increasing yields, but much of the applied N may be lost as N gases, including nitrous oxide (N2O), via denitrification in medium–heavy clay soils. The addition of a nitrification inhibitor can reduce overall N loss and N2O emissions. Currently, nitrapyrin (2-chloro-6-trichloro methyl pyridine) is the only inhibitor used with anhydrous ammonia (AA), whereas 3,4-dimethyl pyrazole phosphate (DMPP) has potentially greater stability and longevity in soil, but is not compatible with AA. A newly-developed formulation based on DMPP, 3,4-dimethyl pyrazole tetra-methylene sulfone (DMPS), can be direct-injected with AA. We compared N2O emissions from DMPS- and nitrapyrin-treated AA from two Vertosols used for irrigated cotton. At Emerald (Queensland), both inhibitors reduced N2O emitted by 77% over 2 months. At Gunnedah (New South Wales), DMPS was active in the soil for 3 months, reducing N2O by 86%, whereas nitrapyrin activity lasted for 2 months and reduced N2O by 65%. Realising the potential for improved environmental benefits from directly injecting DMPS with AA requires an agronomic benefit justifying its additional cost to the farmer. Future research needs to investigate the potential for reduced N rates when using these inhibitors – without compromising high yields.


Soil Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 523 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. C. Suter ◽  
H. Sultana ◽  
R. Davies ◽  
C. Walker ◽  
D. Chen

The effect of a nitrification inhibitor on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions across seasons, the effect of a urease inhibitor and a fine particle spray (both targeting ammonia (NH3) loss) on N2O emissions, and the potential for productivity benefits and efficiencies by using these enhanced efficiency fertilisers (EEFs) were investigated in temperate pastures. The study compared three treatments over an eight month period (April to December 2010): (1) urea (U), (2) urea with a nitrification inhibitor (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate) (DMPP), and (3) urea with a urease inhibitor (N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBTPT)) (GU). In autumn, when NH3 loss was predicted to be high, the effect of urea applied as a fine particle spray (containing urea, NBTPT and gibberellic acid (10g ha–1)) (FPA) on N2O emissions and productivity was determined. N2O emissions from urea applied to pastures were low, and were larger in spring than autumn due to soil moisture and temperature. DMPP was an effective tool for mitigating N2O emissions, decreasing fertiliser-induced N2O emissions relative to urea by 76% over eight months. However, the urease inhibitor (NBTPT) (GU) increased N2O emissions from urea by 153% over eight months. FPA had no impact on N2O, but was only examined during periods of low emission (autumn). No significant biomass productivity, agronomic efficiency benefits, or improvements in apparent fertiliser recovery were observed with the DMPP and GU treatments. A significant biomass productivity benefit was observed with the FPA treatment 55 days after fertiliser was applied, most likely because of the gibberellic acid. The outcomes highlight that although DMPP effectively decreased N2O emissions it had no impact on biomass productivity compared with urea. The use of the GU increased N2O emissions by preserving NH3 in the soil. To avoid this a lower rate of N should be applied with the urease inhibitor.


2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Li ◽  
J. Luo ◽  
Y. Shi ◽  
Y. Li ◽  
Y. Ma ◽  
...  

Urine patches in grazed pastures have been identified as important sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. An increase in N2O emissions is possible where urine patches coincide with dung patches and farm dairy effluent (FDE) applications. The aim of the present study was to quantify the effects of dung additions and fresh FDE applications on N2O emissions from urine patches. A field experiment was conducted on a pasture site at the AgResearch’s Ruakura dairy farm in Hamilton, New Zealand. A closed soil chamber technique was used to measure the N2O emissions from a free-draining volcanic soil that received urine (492 kg N/ha, simulated urine patches), with or without dung (1146 kg N/ha) and fresh FDE (100 kg N/ha) and to compare these with controls receiving no urine. The addition of dung delayed the peak N2O fluxes from the urine patches by ~30 days. This could be due to temporary nitrogen (N) immobilisation during decomposition of carbon from the dung. However, over the whole measurement period (271 days), dung addition increased the N2O emission factor (EF, % of applied N emitted as N2O) for the urine from 1.02% to 2.09%. The application of fresh FDE increased the EF to 1.40%. The effluent- or dung-induced increases in N2O emissions from the urine patches were possibly caused both by the direct input of N from effluent or dung and through the indirect priming effect of addition of dung or effluent on the availability of N from urine patches for N2O production. We conclude that when EFs are used in calculations of N2O emissions from urine, consideration should be given to the likelihood of coincidence with dung or FDE applications.


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