Gaseous losses of fertilizer nitrogen from a citrus orchard in the red soil hilly region of Southeast China

Abstract

The gaseous losses of fertilizer nitrogen (N) applied to agroecosystems are a major contributor to a host of environmental problems, inefficient production systems, and decreased N-use efficiency. These losses lead to the wastage of resources, increasing the greenhouse effect and harming human health. The red soil hilly region of Southeast China houses the biggest orchard area of the world, and nitrogen fertilizers are usually heavily applied to the orchard systems in China. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the gaseous losses of the fertilizer N by ammonia (NH 3) volatilization and denitrification losses using the venting method and acetylene inhibition method respectively, and to assess the potential environmental risk of NH 3 and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emission from this orchard system based on the recent orchard management practices. An experiment was conducted in an Ougan citrus (Citrus reticulata Blanco 'Suavissima') orchard in the red soil hilly region of Southeast China. Three fertilization treatments, including the control (no N fertilizer, CK), poultry manure (at a rate of 6.3 t/ha, OM), and conventional fertilization (OM 6.3 t/ha + chemical fertilizer 393 kg N/ha, CF), were used. In all treatments, the fertilizers were incorporated into the soil after application. The test results, which were continuously determined within one year, indicated that the NH 3 volatilization losses accounted for 4.5% of the OM nitrogen (OM-N) and 2.9% of the CF nitrogen (CF-N), whereas the denitrification N losses accounted for 2.1% of the OM-N and 2.9% of the CF-N. Overall, the total gaseous N losses (including NH 3 volatilization losses and denitrification N losses) were 5.8% in the CF treatment. A relatively higher N 2 O flux, accounting for 1.8% of the CF-N, emitted from the CF treatment.

Effects of Chemical Fertilizer Combined with Organic Fertilizer Application on Soil Properties, Citrus Growth Physiology, and Yield

“…In addition, CO 2 carbon flux for each treatment was largest in July and lowest in December. This could be due to soil microbial activity; the findings were similar to previous studies [50][51][52]. The long-term, large amount of chemical fertilizer especially nitrogen fertilizer is a main cause of soil N leaching [53].…”

Herbicide Applications Reduce Gaseous N Losses: A Field Study of Three Consecutive Wheat–Maize Rotation Cycles in the North China Plain

“…All fertilizers were applied by surface broadcasting. [34]. A 15 cm diameter PVC cylinder was placed in the field and contained two pieces of phosphoglycerol-soaked sponges (diameter 15 cm); the bottom one collected NH 3 from the soil, the upper one absorbed ambient NH 3 and prevented it from entering the inside of chamber.…”

Phosphate leachate losses in sandy soil amended with different fertilizers and effects on cowpea yield

“…Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License study area to boost soil nutrient status every cropping season. Unguided chemical fertilizer usage leads to nutrient losses through volatilization (Jadon et al, 2018;Ding et al, 2017), sorption (Asomaning et al, 2018;Oyeyiola and Omueti, 2010) and leaching processes (Xia et al, 2020;Islam et al, 2014). Studies on nutrient leachate losses on these sandy soils are not available despite nutrient leaching potential indicated by high torrential rainfall of about 1800 mm received annually in the study area (Ogunbode and Ifabiyi, 2019).…”