scholarly journals ESTIMATION OF NITROUS OXIDE EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURAL SOILS IN VOIVODESHIPS IN POLAND

Author(s):  
Anna Jędrejek

The purpose of this study was to estimate nitrogen oxide emissions from soils used for agricultural purposes by voivodships. Compared N2O emissions were estimated according to the recommended IPCC (tier 1) method with simulated emissions using the DNDC (tier 3) model. Analyses were done for crop rotation (winter rape, winter wheat, winter wheat, winter triticale) in four cropping systems. Moreover, simulated N2O emissions from winter rape and winter triticale cultivation showed lower emissions and constituted 1475% and 13-76% of IPCC estimated emissions, respectively. The use of the model also enabled the determination of factors, which have an impact on nitrous oxide emissions and define its regional differentiation. The analysis showed that with increasing initial soil organic content, emissions of N2O rise and decrease with increasing precipitation or carbon sequestration. Considering the requirements for reduction GHG emissions, improving the methodology used in estimating nitrous oxide emissions is of significant practical value.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Biernat ◽  
Friedhelm Taube ◽  
Ralf Loges ◽  
Christof Kluß ◽  
Thorsten Reinsch

Land-use extensification by shifting from conventional to organic arable farming is often discussed as a measure for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural land. Doubts about the benefits arise when emissions are calculated per product unit, particularly where high yields are possible under conventional management. Among the non-CO2 GHG emissions, nitrous oxide (N2O) is the main contributor from arable land and is controlled by soil type, environmental conditions and management. In order to investigate how land-use change from conventional to organic farming would perform under highly productive site conditions in northwest Germany, and how this would affect the important greenhouse gases N2O and methane (CH4), an on-farm field research was conducted over two experimental years. Two site-specific organic crop rotations, (i) with 25% legumes (grass + clover - winter wheat – winter rye – oats) and (ii) with 40% legumes (grass + clover – winter wheat – winter rye – spring field peas – winter rye), were compared with (iii) a conventional arable rotation (winter oilseed rape – winter wheat – winter wheat – sugar beet – winter wheat) and two reference systems, (iv) extensive grassland and (v) a beech forest), which were chosen as the baseline. The results showed that organic farming had lower N2O emissions of 0.7 N2O–N ha−1 year−1 than the conventional rotation, with 2.1 kg N2O–N ha−1 year−1 (p < 0.05), but higher emissions than the extensive grassland (0.3 kg N2O ha−1 year−1) and beech forest (0.4 kg N2O ha−1 year−1). CH4 emissions were a negligible part of total GHG emissions (as CO2 equivalents) in the two arable systems, and considerable uptake of CH4 from the forest soils showed this was a GHG sink in the first experimental year. Organic systems produced up to 40% lower crop yields, but the emissions per product unit in rotation (iii) was not superior to (ii) during the two experimental years. Thus, arable organic farming showed the ability to produce agricultural commodities with low N2O emissions per unit area, and no differences in product-related emissions compared with conventional farming. Conventional and organic systems both showed potential for further mitigation of N2O emissions by controlling the field level nitrogen surplus to a minimum, and by the optimized timing of the removal of the grass–clover ley phase.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 770
Author(s):  
Cong Wang ◽  
Barbara Amon ◽  
Karsten Schulz ◽  
Bano Mehdi

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a long-lived greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Emissions of N2O mainly stem from agricultural soils. This review highlights the principal factors from peer-reviewed literature affecting N2O emissions from agricultural soils, by grouping the factors into three categories: environmental, management and measurement. Within these categories, each impact factor is explained in detail and its influence on N2O emissions from the soil is summarized. It is also shown how each impact factor influences other impact factors. Process-based simulation models used for estimating N2O emissions are reviewed regarding their ability to consider the impact factors in simulating N2O. The model strengths and weaknesses in simulating N2O emissions from managed soils are summarized. Finally, three selected process-based simulation models (Daily Century (DAYCENT), DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC), and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)) are discussed that are widely used to simulate N2O emissions from cropping systems. Their ability to simulate N2O emissions is evaluated by describing the model components that are relevant to N2O processes and their representation in the model.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Winter ◽  
P. Pearce ◽  
K. Colquhoun

This paper describes research that investigated the contribution of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from wastewater treatment to the greenhouse gas emissions of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The research provided several months of robust data from a large-scale WWTP serving a population equivalent of 284,000. N2O emissions were monitored online at the ventilation system of a covered activated sludge (AS) plant, therefore capturing the complete off-gas stream. This methodology eliminated errors incurred through sampling of small percentages of emission areas and allowed representative continuous measurements. Nitrogen load and dissolved oxygen (DO) were also monitored. To address seasonal variation, data were recorded in two extensive phases. In addition, three separate 24-hour surveys were conducted. Emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O associated with treatment were calculated using the UK Water Industry Research carbon accounting workbook. This study measured N2O emissions from the AS process (nitrification and denitrification) equivalent to 17.5% of the annual GHG emissions (tonnes CO2e) from processes at the WWTP. The emissions were within the range of published N2O emissions. The diurnal profiles confirmed literature findings of a trend of increased N2O emissions when the DO decreased. The DO in the high rate zone of the aeration lanes should be kept above 1 mg l−1 to avoid favourable conditions for N2O emissions during nitrification.


SOIL ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 707-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Hüppi ◽  
R. Felber ◽  
A. Neftel ◽  
J. Six ◽  
J. Leifeld

Abstract. Biochar, a carbon-rich, porous pyrolysis product of organic residues may positively affect plant yield and can, owing to its inherent stability, promote soil carbon sequestration when amended to agricultural soils. Another possible effect of biochar is the reduction in emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O). A number of laboratory incubations have shown significantly reduced N2O emissions from soil when mixed with biochar. Emission measurements under field conditions however are more scarce and show weaker or no reductions, or even increases in N2O emissions. One of the hypothesised mechanisms for reduced N2O emissions from soil is owing to the increase in soil pH following the application of alkaline biochar. To test the effect of biochar on N2O emissions in a temperate maize cropping system, we set up a field trial with a 20t ha−1 biochar treatment, a limestone treatment adjusted to the same pH as the biochar treatment (pH 6.5), and a control treatment without any addition (pH 6.1). An automated static chamber system measured N2O emissions for each replicate plot (n = 3) every 3.6 h over the course of 8 months. The field was conventionally fertilised at a rate of 160 kg N ha−1 in three applications of 40, 80 and 40 kg N ha−1 as ammonium nitrate. Cumulative N2O emissions were 52 % smaller in the biochar compared to the control treatment. However, the effect of the treatments overall was not statistically significant (p = 0.27) because of the large variability in the data set. Limed soils emitted similar mean cumulative amounts of N2O as the control. There is no evidence that reduced N2O emissions with biochar relative to the control is solely caused by a higher soil pH.


Soil Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Farquharson

Laboratory incubations were performed to estimate nitrification rates and the associated nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions under aerobic conditions on a range of soils from National Agricultural Nitrous Oxide Research Program field sites. Significant site-to-site variability in nitrification rates and associated N2O emissions was observed under standardised conditions, indicating the need for site-specific model parameterisation. Generally, nitrification rates and N2O emissions increased with higher water content, ammonium concentration and temperature, although there were exceptions. It is recommended that site-specific model parameterisation be informed by such data. Importantly, the ratio of N2O emitted to net nitrified N under aerobic conditions was small (<0.2% for the majority of measurements) but did vary from 0.03% to 1%. Some models now include variation in the proportion of nitrified N emitted as N2O as a function of water content; however, strong support for this was not found across all of our experiments, and the results demonstrate a potential role of pH and ammonium availability. Further research into fluctuating oxygen availability and the coupling of biotic and abiotic processes will be required to progress the process understanding of N2O emissions from nitrification.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 793-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Hüppi ◽  
R. Felber ◽  
A. Neftel ◽  
J. Six ◽  
J. Leifeld

Abstract. Biochar, a carbon-rich, porous pyrolysis product of organic residues may positively affect plant yield and can, owing to its inherent stability, promote soil carbon sequestration when amended to agricultural soils. Another possible effect of biochar is the reduction in emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O). A number of laboratory incubations have shown significantly reduced N2O emissions from soil when mixed with biochar. Emission measurements under field conditions however are more scarce and show weaker or no reductions, or even increases in N2O emissions. One of the hypothesized mechanisms for reduced N2O emissions from soil is owing to the increase in soil pH following the application of alkaline biochar. To test the effect of biochar on N2O emissions in a temperate maize system, we set up a field trial with a 20 t ha−1 biochar treatment, a limestone treatment adjusted to the same pH as the biochar treatment, and a control treatment without any addition. An automated static chamber system measured N2O emissions for each replicate plot (n = 3) every 3.6 h over the course of 8 months. The field was conventionally fertilised at a rate of 160 kg-N ha−1 in 3 applications of 40, 80 and 40 kg-N ha−1. Cumulative N2O emissions were 53 % smaller in the biochar compared to the control treatment. However, the effect of the treatments overall was not statistically significant (p = 0.26) because of the large variability in the dataset. Limed soils emitted similar mean cumulative amounts of N2O as the control. This indicates that the observed N2O reduction effect of biochar was not caused by a pH effect.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Felber ◽  
R. Hüppi ◽  
J. Leifeld ◽  
A. Neftel

Abstract. Biochar, a pyrolysis product of organic residues, is an amendment for agricultural soils to improve soil fertility, sequester CO2 and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In highly weathered tropical soils laboratory incubations of soil-biochar mixtures revealed substantial reductions for nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). In contrast, evidence is scarce for temperate soils. In a three-factorial laboratory incubation experiment two different temperate agricultural soils were amended with green waste and coffee grounds biochar. N2O and CO2 emissions were measured at the beginning and end of a three month incubation. The experiments were conducted under three different conditions (no additional nutrients, glucose addition, and nitrate and glucose addition) representing different field conditions. We found mean N2O emission reductions of 60 % compared to soils without addition of biochar. The reduction depended on biochar type and soil type as well as on the age of the samples. CO2 emissions were slightly reduced, too. NO3– but not NH4+ concentrations were significantly reduced shortly after biochar incorporation. Despite the highly significant suppression of N2O emissions biochar effects should not be transferred one-to-one to field conditions but need to be tested accordingly.


2002 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
W N Smith ◽  
R L Desjardins ◽  
B. Grant ◽  
C. Li ◽  
R. Lemke ◽  
...  

Measured data from two experimental sites in Canada were used to test the ability of the DeNitrification and DeComposition model (DNDC) to predict N2O emissions from agricultural soils. The two sites, one from eastern Canada, and one from western Canada, provided a variety of crops, management practices, soils, and climates for testing the model. At the site in eastern Canada, the magnitude of total seasonal N2O flux from the seven treatments was accurately predicted with a slight average over-prediction (ARE) of 3% and a coefficient of variation of 41%. Nitrous oxide emissions based on International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) methodology had a relative error of 62% for the seven treatments. The DNDC estimates of total yearly emissions of N2O from the field site in western Canada showed an underestimation of 8% for the footslope landscape position and an overestimation of 46% for the shoulder position. The data input for the DNDC model were not of sufficient detail to characterize the moisture difference between the landscape positions. The estimates from IPCC guidelines showed an underestimation of 54% for the footslope and an overestimation of 161% for the shoulder. The results indicate that the DNDC model was more accurate than IPCC methodology at estimating N2O emissions at both sites. Key words: Nitrous oxide, DNDC, soil model, greenhouse gas, testing


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khadim Dawar ◽  
Shah Fahad ◽  
M. M. R. Jahangir ◽  
Iqbal Munir ◽  
Syed Sartaj Alam ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this study, we explored the role of biochar (BC) and/or urease inhibitor (UI) in mitigating ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) discharge from urea fertilized wheat cultivated fields in Pakistan (34.01°N, 71.71°E). The experiment included five treatments [control, urea (150 kg N ha−1), BC (10 Mg ha−1), urea + BC and urea + BC + UI (1 L ton−1)], which were all repeated four times and were carried out in a randomized complete block design. Urea supplementation along with BC and BC + UI reduced soil NH3 emissions by 27% and 69%, respectively, compared to sole urea application. Nitrous oxide emissions from urea fertilized plots were also reduced by 24% and 53% applying BC and BC + UI, respectively, compared to urea alone. Application of BC with urea improved the grain yield, shoot biomass, and total N uptake of wheat by 13%, 24%, and 12%, respectively, compared to urea alone. Moreover, UI further promoted biomass and grain yield, and N assimilation in wheat by 38%, 22% and 27%, respectively, over sole urea application. In conclusion, application of BC and/or UI can mitigate NH3 and N2O emissions from urea fertilized soil, improve N use efficiency (NUE) and overall crop productivity.


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