Abstract
Emissions of nitric oxide and other odd nitrogen oxides (NO x ) from a flooded rice field were studied after urea had been broadcast into the floodwater.
The NO x flux from the fertilized area was very low (0.2×10-9 g N m-2 s-1) for the first few days after application of urea and was high (0.95×10-9 g N m-2 s-1) in the subsequent period when significant nitrite and nitrate were present in the floodwater. At night, little if any NO x was exhaled but ambient NO2 was absorbed by the floodwater. An uptake velocity for NO2 of 3×10-4 m s-1 was measured during one night. Maximum NO x losses were observed near 1300 h when temperature and solar ultraviolet light were maximum.
While the amounts of nitrogen oxides emitted are of little agronomic importance (∼2×10-3 per cent of the fertilizer nitrogen was lost as NO x during the 10-day study period), they may well be of significance as a source for some gas reactions in the atmosphere and for the global nitrogen cycle.
Of the fertilizer nitrogen applied (as urea) approximately 30% was lost to the atmosphere by NH3 volatilization, 15% by denitrification, presumably as N2, and the remainder, less minor losses of NO and N2O, remained in the plant/soil/water system.
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Now at Forestry Department, Australian National University, G.P.O. Box 4, ACT 2601, Australia.
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Galbally, I.E., Freney, J.R., Muirhead, W.A. et al. Emission of nitrogen oxides (NO x ) from a flooded soil fertilized with urea: Relation to other nitrogen loss processes. J Atmos Chem 5, 343–365 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114111
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114111