ISSN:
1365-2389
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Most of the nitrous oxide (N2O) in the atmosphere, thought to be involved in global warming, is emitted from soil. Although the main factors controlling the production of N2O in soil are well known, we need more quantitative data on the interactions of soil and the environment in the soil that affect the emission. We therefore studied the effects of irrigation, cropping (fallow, barley with grass undersown) and N fertilization (unfertilized, 103 kg N ha−1) on the composition of soil air and direct N2O emission from soil (using the closed chamber method) in a factorial field experiment on a well-structured loamy clay soil during 1 June−22 October 1993. The measurements were made weekly during the growing season and three times after harvesting. The composition of the soil air did not indicate severe anoxia in any treatment or combination of treatments, but the accumulation of N2O in the soil air indicated that hypoxia was common. At the start of the irrigation the emissions were small, even though there was much ammonium and nitrate in the soil and therefore a potential for emission of N2O produced by both nitrification and denitrification. Larger emissions occurred later. The largest emissions were found when 60–90% of the soil pore space was filled with water. Irrigation and fertilization with N both roughly doubled the cumulative N2O emission. Growing a crop decreased it by a factor of 3–7. Most N2O was lost from the irrigated fertilized soil under fallow (3.5 kg N ha−1), and least from the unirrigated unfertilized soil under barley (0.1 kg N ha−1).
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2389.2000.00308.x
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