Journal ArticleDOI
Gaseous nitrogen loss from temperate perennial grass and clover dairy pastures in south-eastern Australia
TLDR
Although the use of ammonium nitrate fertiliser would significantly reduce NH3 volatilisation losses in summer, this fertiliser costs 45% more per unit N than urea, so there is no economic justification for recommending its use over urea for the other seasons, however, theUse of urea during the cooler, wetter months may result in significantly less denitrification loss.Abstract:
The use of nitrogen (N) fertiliser on dairy pastures in south-eastern Australia has increased exponentially over the past 15 years. Concerns have been raised about the economic and environmental impact of N loss through volatilisation and denitrification. Emissions of NH3, N2, and N2O were measured for 3 years in the 4 different seasons from a grazed grass/clover pasture, with or without 200 kg N fertiliser/ha, applied as ammonium nitrate and urea. Nitrogen-fertilised treatments lost significantly more N than the control treatments in all cases. More NH3 was lost from urea-fertilised treatments than from either the control or ammonium nitrate treatments, whereas ammonium nitrate treatments lost significantly more N through denitrification than the control or urea treatments in all seasons, except for summer. More NH3 was lost in summer than in the other seasons, whereas denitrification and N2O losses were highest in winter and lowest in summer. The total annual NH3 loss from the control, ammonium nitrate, and urea treatments averaged 17, 32, and 57 kg N/ha.year, respectively. Annual denitrification losses were estimated at around 6, 15, and 13 kg N/ha.year for the control, ammonium nitrate, and urea treatments, respectively. Total gaseous N losses were estimated to be 23, 47, and 70 kg N/ha.year from the control, ammonium nitrate, and urea treatments respectively. Although the use of ammonium nitrate fertiliser would significantly reduce NH3 volatilisation losses in summer, this fertiliser costs 45% more per unit N than urea, so there is no economic justification for recommending its use over urea for the other seasons. However, the use of urea during the cooler, wetter months may result in significantly less denitrification loss. The results are discussed in terms of potential management strategies to improve fertiliser efficiency and reduce adverse effects on the environment.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Options for the abatement of methane and nitrous oxide from ruminant production: A review
TL;DR: In this article, a number of options are reviewed to reduce production of enteric CH 4 and N 2 O from ruminant production systems, mainly focusing on breeding, feeding, animal management, soil and fertilizer management, and rumen manipulation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Denitrification and N2O:N2 production in temperate grasslands: processes, measurements, modelling and mitigating negative impacts.
Surinder Saggar,Neha Jha,Julie R. Deslippe,Nanthi Bolan,Jiafa Luo,Donna Giltrap,Dong-Gill Kim,Mohammad Zaman,R. W. Tillman +8 more
TL;DR: This review explores the biotic transformations of nitrogenous compounds that occur during denitrification, and the factors that influence denitrifier populations and enzyme activities, and hence, affect the production of nitrous oxide and dinitrogen in soils.
Journal ArticleDOI
Strategies and agronomic interventions to improve the phosphorus-use efficiency of farming systems
Richard J. Simpson,Astrid Oberson,Richard A. Culvenor,Megan H. Ryan,Erik J. Veneklaas,Hans Lambers,Jonathan P. Lynch,Peter R. Ryan,Emmanuel Delhaize,F. Andrew Smith,Sally E. Smith,Paul R. Harvey,Alan Richardson +12 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the causal edaphic, plant and microbial factors in the context of soil P management, P cycling and productivity goals of farms are explored, including better targeted P-fertiliser use, organic amendments, removing other constraints to yield, zone management, use of plants with low critical-P requirements, and modified farming systems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Prospects of improving efficiency of fertiliser nitrogen in Australian agriculture: a review of enhanced efficiency fertilisers
TL;DR: The potential role of enhanced efficiency fertilisers to increase yield in the various agricultural industries and prevent contamination of the environment in Australia is discussed in this paper, which confirms that the efficiency of fertiliser nitrogen can be improved through management practices which increase the crop's ability to compete with loss processes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effect of biochar amendment on the soil-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases from an intensive subtropical pasture in northern New South Wales, Australia
TL;DR: The hypothesis that the application of biochar would lead to a reduction in emissions of GHG from soils was not supported and it is demonstrated that intensively managed subtropical pastures on ferrosols in northern New South Wales of Australia can be a significant source of GHGs.
References
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An Examination of the Degtjareff Method for Determining Soil Organic Matter, and a Proposed Modification of the Chromic Acid Titration Method
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a methodology to calculate annual country level N2O emissions from agricultural soils, including direct emissions from agriculture, indirect emissions from animal production, and indirect emissions indirectly induced by agricultural activities.
Journal ArticleDOI
Direct emission of nitrous oxide from agricultural soils
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple equation to relate the total annual direct N2O−N emission (E) from fertilized fields to the N fertilizer applied (F), was based on the measurements covering periods of one year: E=1+1.25×F, with E and F in kg N ha-1 yr-1.
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