Contrasting effects of straw and straw-derived biochar amendments on greenhouse gas emissions within double rice cropping systems

The application of nitrification inhibitors together with ammonium-based fertilizers is proposed as a potent method to decrease nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emission while promoting crop yield and nitrogen use efficiency in fertilized agricultural fields. To evaluate the effects of nitrification inhibitors, we conducted year-round measurements of N 2 O fluxes, yield, aboveground biomass, plant carbon and nitrogen contents, soil inorganic nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon contents and the main environmental factors for urea (U), urea p dicyandiamide (DCD) and urea p 3,4-dimethylpyrazol phosphate (DMPP) treatments in a wheat–maize rotation field. The cumulative N 2 O emissions were calculated to be 4.49 p 0.21, 2.93 p 0.06 and 2.78 p 0.16 kg N ha −1 yr −1 for the U, DCD and DMPP treatments, respectively. Therefore, the DCD and DMPP treatments significantly decreased the annual emissions by 35% and 38%, respectively ( p 2 O emissions. When the emissions presented clearly temporal variations, high-frequency measurements or optimized sampling schedule for intermittent measurements would likely provide more accurate estimations of annual cumulative emission and treatment effect. The application of nitrification inhibitors significantly increased the soil inorganic nitrogen content ( p 2 O emission from the wheat–maize cropping system.

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Effects of nitrification inhibitors (DCD and DMPP) on nitrous oxide emission, crop yield and nitrogen uptake in a wheat-maize cropping system

To evaluate the impacts of organic cropping system on global warming potentials (GWPs), field measurements of CH4 and N2O were taken in conventional and organic rice (Oryza sativa L.) cropping systems in southeast China. Rice paddies were under various water regimes, including continuous flooding (F), flooding–midseason drainage–reflooding (F-D-F), and flooding–midseason drainage–reflooding and moisture but without waterlogging (F-D-F-M). Nitrogen was applied at the rate of 100 kg N ha−1, as urea-N or pelletized, dehydrated manure product in conventional or organic rice paddies, respectively. Seasonal fluxes of CH4 averaged 4.44, 2.14, and 1.75 mg m−2 h−1 for the organic paddy plots under the water regimes of F, F-D-F and F-D-F-M, respectively. Relative to conventional rice paddies, organic cropping systems increased seasonal CH4 emissions by 20%, 23%, and 35% for the plots under the water regimes of F, F-D-F, and F-D-F-M, respectively. Under the water regimes of F-D-F and F-D-F-M, seasonal N2O-N emissions averaged 10.85 and 13.66 μg m−2 h−1 in organic rice paddies, respectively, which were significantly lower than those in conventional rice paddies. The net global warming potentials (GWPs) of CH4 and N2O emissions from organic rice paddies relative to conventional rice paddies were significantly higher or comparable under various water regimes. The greenhouse gas intensities were greater, while carbon efficiency ratios were lower in organic relative to conventional rice paddies. The results of this study suggest that organic cropping system might not be an effective option for mitigating the combined climatic impacts from CH4 and N2O in paddy rice production.

Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from organic and conventional rice cropping systems in Southeast China

In this study, a N-15 tracing incubation experiment and an in situ monitoring study were combined to investigate the effects of different N fertilizer regimes on the mechanisms of soil N dynamics from a long-term repeated N application experiment. The field study was initiated in 2003 under a wheat-maize rotation system in the subtropical rain-fed purple soil region of China. The experiment included six fertilization treatments applied on an equivalent N basis (280 kg N ha(-1)), except for the residue only treatment which received 112 kg N ha(-1): (1) UC, unfertilized control; (2) NPK, mineral fertilizer NPK; (3) OM, pig manure; (4) OM-NPK, pig manure (40% of applied N) with mineral NPK (60% of applied N); (5) RSD, crop straw; (6) RSD-NPK, crop straw (40% of applied N) with mineral NPK (60% of applied N). The results showed that long-term repeated applications of mineral or organic N fertilizer significantly stimulated soil gross N mineralization rates, which was associated with enhanced soil C and N contents following the application of N fertilizer. The crop N Make and yield were positively correlated with gross mineralization. Gross autotrophic nitrification rates were enhanced by approximately 2.5-fold in the NPK, OM, OM-NPK, and RSD-NPK treatments, and to a lesser extent by RSD application, compared to the UC. A significant positive relationship between gross nitrification rates and cumulative N loss via interflow and runoff indicated that the mechanisms responsible for increasing N loss following long-term applications of N fertilizer were governed by the nitrification dynamics. Organic fertilizers stimulated gross ammonium (NH4+) immobilization rates and caused a strong competition with nitrifiers for NH4+, thus preventing a build-up of nitrate (NO3-). Overall, in this study, we found that partial or complete substitution of NPK fertilizers with organic fertilizers can reduce N losses and maintain high crop production, except for the treatment involving application of RSD alone. Therefore, based on the N transformation dynamics observed in this study, organic fertilizers in combination with mineral fertilizer applications (i.e. OM, OM-NPK, and RSD-NPK treatments) are recommended for crop production in the subtropical rain-fed purple soils in China. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanisms of soil N dynamics following long-term application of organic fertilizers to subtropical rain-fed purple soil in China

Greenhouse gas emissions from a wheat-maize double cropping system with different nitrogen fertilization regimes

With regard to measuring nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from biological sources, there are three most widely adopted methods that use gas chromatograph with an electron capture detector (GC–ECD). They use: (a) nitrogen (N2) as the carrier gas (DN); (b) ascarite as a carbon dioxide (CO2) trap with DN (DN-Ascarite); and (c) a mixture gas of argon and methane as the carrier (AM). Additional methods that use either a mixture of argon and methane (or of CO2 and N2) as a make-up gas with the carrier nitrogen or soda lime (or ascarite) as a CO2 trap with the carrier helium have also been adopted in a few studies. To test the hypothesis that the use of DN sometimes considerably biases measurements of N2O emissions from plants, soils or soil–plant systems, experiments were conducted involving DN, AM and DN-Ascarite. When using DN, a significant relationship appeared between CO2 concentrations and the apparent N2O concentrations in air samples. The use of DN led to significantly overestimated N2O emissions from detached fresh plants in static chamber enclosures. Meanwhile, comparably lower emissions were found when using either the DN-Ascarite or AM methods. When an N2O flux (from a soil or a soil–plant system), measured by DN in combination with sampling from the enclosure of a static opaque chamber, was greater than 200 μg N m−2 h−1, no significant difference was found between DN and DN-Ascarite. When the DN-measured fluxes were within the ranges of <−30, −30–0, 0–30, 30–100 and 100–200 μg N m−2 h−1, significant differences that amounted to −72, −22, 5, 38 and 64 μg N m−2 h−1, respectively, appeared in comparison to DN-Ascarite. As a result, the DN measurements in rice–wheat and vegetable fields overestimated both annual total N2O emissions (by 7–62%, p < 0.05) and direct emission factors for applied nitrogen (by 6–65%). These results suggest the necessity of reassessing the available data determined from DN measurements before they are applied to inventory estimation. Further studies are required to explore appropriate approaches for the necessary reassessment. Our results also imply that the DN method should not be adopted for measuring N2O emissions from weak sources (e.g., with intensities less than 200 μg N m−2 h−1). In addition, we especially do not recommend the use of DN to simultaneously measure N2O and CO2 with the same ECD.

Fang Su

Papers

Quantification of N2O fluxes from soil–plant systems may be biased by the applied gas chromatograph methodology