Abstract
Purpose
The key environmentally beneficial process that substantially removes reactive nitrogen from biosphere is a complete denitrification. The science of measuring and constraining nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions has advanced significantly; however, despite several attempts, in situ dinitrogen (N2) measurement is still a great challenge and is poorly understood due to the high atmospheric N2 background. This study aimed at estimating field-scale inferred N2 emissions using data of field N2O emissions and laboratory-measured N2O/(N2O + N2) ratios and correlating those emissions with the soil-environmental factors.
Materials and methods
Closed static chamber and He/O2 direct measurement methods were used at field and laboratory scale, respectively. For each treatment (varying N fertilizer rates), on each sampling date, N2O and N2 emissions were measured at laboratory and N2O emissions at field-scale, allowing the calculation of field-scale inferred N2 emissions.
Results
The results demonstrate that field-scale inferred cumulative N2 emissions were 1.35, 1.48 and 1.60 times greater than laboratory-measured cumulative N2 emissions in low nitrogen level (LNL), medium nitrogen level (MNL) and high nitrogen level (HNL) treatments, respectively. This suggests that estimating N2 emissions at the field-scale in agricultural soil could give more insight on N cycling processes. Moreover, N fertilizer application rates increased linearly both field and laboratory cumulative N2O and N2 emissions. Both positive and negative relationships between soil-environmental parameters and N2O, N2 and their N2O/(N2O + N2) ratios at field and laboratory-based indicate their heterogeneous roles in N2O formation and reduction processes.
Conclusion
The results provide complementary insights into field-scale N2 emissions in agricultural soil and help in closing the knowledge gap in the N balance. Linear relationships between the emissions (N2O and N2) and N fertilizer rates observed suggest that climate change mitigation options could be achieved by optimizing the N fertilization rates since N2O and N2 emissions are enhanced by increasing N inputs. As our results present the field-scale inferred N2 emissions, there is still a need to design a robust methodological approach that will enable researchers to directly quantify field N2 emissions.
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Funding
This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development program of China (2021YFD1700901), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA26040103), and the Key Research and Development of Hebei Province (21323601D). Fiston Bizimana is grateful to the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), for doctoral studies (Ph.D.) scholarship.
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Bizimana, F., Luo, J., Timilsina, A. et al. Estimating field N2 emissions based on laboratory-quantified N2O/(N2O + N2) ratios and field-quantified N2O emissions. J Soils Sediments 22, 2196–2208 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03212-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03212-0