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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341811

Research Project: Improving Air Quality, Soil Health and Nutrient Use Efficiency to Increase Northwest Agroecosystem Performance

Location: Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research

Title: Emissions of N2O and CO2 following short-term water and N fertilization events in wheat-based cropping systems

Author
item KOSTYANOVSKY, KIRILL - Washington State University
item Huggins, David
item STOCKLE, CLAUDIO - Washington State University
item MORROW, JASON - Washington State University
item MADSEN, ISAAC - Washington State University

Submitted to: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/19/2019
Publication Date: 4/24/2019
Citation: Kostyanovsky, K.I., Huggins, D.R., Stockle, C.O., Morrow, J.G., Madsen, I. 2019. Emissions of N2O and CO2 following short-term water and N fertilization events in wheat-based cropping systems. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 7:63. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00063.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00063

Interpretive Summary: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture occur following events such as precipitation and nitrogen fertilization. We thought that agricultural systems with contrasting management histories may have different emissions of greenhouse gases following additions of water and N fertilizer. Emissions of CO2 increased with increases in water and temperature, and decreased under nitrogen fertilizer application. Water and nitrogen treatments in conventional tillage at the sites with 2 and 12-year history produced N2O emissions greater than no-tillage by 142% and 68%, respectively. We concluded that early stages of no-till adaption can result in reduction of relatively large N2O emissions during short-term rainfall events as compared to conventional tillage sites. However, sites can vary considerably for reasons not known at this time. These results will be useful for producers, NRCS, Conservation Districts and scientists interested in agricultural impacts on greenhouse gas emissions.

Technical Abstract: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions result from short-term perturbations of agricultural systems such as precipitation and fertilization events. We hypothesized that agricultural systems with contrasting management histories may respond differently to additions of water and N fertilizer with respect to GHG emissions. Studies with long-term management histories consisting of no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) were coupled with high temporal resolution, automated chambers that monitored N2O and CO2 emissions for 22 hours following treatments. Treatments applied to NT and CT were, control (no water or N additions), simulated precipitation to achieve approximately 80% water-filled pore space, and precipitation plus fertilizer additions of 150 kg N ha-1as ammonium nitrate. Emissions of CO2 increased with increase in moisture and temperature, and decreased under NH4NO3 application. Water and nitrogen treatments in CT at the sites with 2 and 12-year history produced N2O fluxes greater than NT by 142% and 68%, respectively. The site with 10-year history of NT produced similar amounts of N2O from CT and NT treatments. The same treatments at the site with 31 yearlong no-till history despite being one of the lowest among all sites demonstrated 380% higher N2O fluxes from the NT than CT, which was likely due to higher levels of labile organic matter present in NT treatments. GHG emissions data regressed on measured soil C and N properties, fractionation and mineralization data showed, that N2O flux increased with reduction of acid-hydrolyzable N and increase of NH4-N in soil, which suggested that N2O production in the short-term water additions events is mostly produced via nitrification process. This indicates that neither the length of no-till treatment nor the fertilizer application rate define the rate of N2O emissions, but the soil N availability controlled by organic matter mineralization rate. The current study shows that the early stages of no-till adaption can result in reduction of N2O spikes during short-term precipitation events at comparable to some long-term no-till sites.