Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilised grassland: A 2-year study of the effects of N fertiliser form and environmental conditions

Clayton, H.; Ip, McTaggart; Parker, John P.; La, Swan; Ka, Smith

doi:10.1007/s003740050311

Cited by 290 publications

(165 citation statements)

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“…The results of the current study show that replacing CAN with any urea form, especially in wet grassland, greatly reduced direct N 2 O emissions. This is in agreement with Velthof et al (1997);Clayton et al (1997); Dobbie and Smith (2003); Jones et al (2007) and Smith et al (2012).…”

Section: The Effect Of N Formulation On N 2 O Emissionssupporting

confidence: 89%

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Reducing nitrous oxide emissions by changing N fertiliser use from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea based formulations

Harty

Forrestal

Watson

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

148

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*Corresponding authors karl.richards@teagasc.ieHighlights  The N 2 O emission factor for CAN was substantially higher than the IPCC default and highly variable between sites and across years. Urea products decreased direct N 2 O emissions from CAN on average by 80%  Switching from CAN to urea products reduces both N 2 O emissions and fertiliser costs. 3 AbstractThe accelerating use of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilisers, to meet the world's growing food demand, is the primary driver for increased atmospheric concentrations of nitrous oxide (N 2 O). The IPCC default emission factor (EF) for N 2 O from soils is 1% of the N applied, irrespective of its form. However, N 2 O emissions tend to be higher from nitrate-containing fertilisers e.g. calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) compared to urea, particularly in regions, which have mild, wet climates and high organic matter soils. Urea can be an inefficient N source due to NH 3 volatilisation, but nitrogen stabilisers (urease and nitrification inhibitors) can improve its efficacy. This study evaluated the impact of switching fertiliser formulation from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea-based products, as a potential mitigation strategy to reduce N 2 O emissions at six temperate grassland sites on the island of Ireland. The surface applied formulations included CAN, urea and urea with the urease inhibitor N-(nbutyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) and/or the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD). Results showed that N 2 O emissions were significantly affected by fertiliser formulation, soil type and climatic conditions. The direct N 2 O emission factor (EF) from CAN averaged 1.49% overall sites, but was highly variable, ranging from 0.58% to 3.81.Amending urea with NBPT, to reduce ammonia volatilisation, resulted in an average EF of 0.40% (ranging from 0.21 to 0.69%)-compared to an average EF of 0.25% for urea (ranging from 0.1 to 0.49%), with both fertilisers significantly lower and less variable than CAN.Cumulative N 2 O emissions from urea amended with both NBPT and DCD were not significantly different from background levels. Switching from CAN to stabilised urea formulations was found to be an effective strategy to reduce N 2 O emissions, particularly in wet, temperate grassland. 4Key words nitrous oxide mitigation; emission factor; calcium ammonium nitrate; stabilised urea; nitrification inhibitor Dicyandiamide (DCD); urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT).5

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Section: The Effect Of N Formulation On N 2 O Emissionssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In New Zealand Monaghan et al, (2009) Clayton et al, 1997). This is especially important in high 24 rainfall areas.…”

Section: The Effect Of N Formulation On N 2 O Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing nitrous oxide emissions by changing N fertiliser use from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea based formulations

Harty

Forrestal

Watson

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

148

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“…Excessive N inputs to lawns may enter groundwater as ammonium (NH 4 ? ) and nitrate (NO 3 -, Jiao et al 2004;Petrovic 1990) through leaching, causing threats to public health (Scanlon et al 2007), or enter the atmosphere through ammonia (NH 3 ) volatilization (Torello et al 1983) and emissions of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and nitrogen monoxide (NO) in nitrification and denitrification (Bouwman et al 2002;Clayton et al 1997;Eichner 1990;Firestone and Davison 1989;Townsend-Small et al 2011). Kaye et al (2004) showed that urban lawns occupied 6.4 % of their study region of urban soils (including urban impervious, urban lawns, agricultural land, and native grassland) but contributed 30 % of the regional emissions of N 2 O, which is a powerful greenhouse gas (IPCC 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen budgets of urban lawns under three different management regimes in southern California

Wang

Haver²,

Pataki

2013

Biogeochemistry

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We constructed nitrogen (N) budgets for the lawns of three simulated residences built to test the environmental impacts of three different residential landscape designs in southern California. The three designs included: a ''Typical'' lawn planted with cool season tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix), fertilized at the recommended rate for this species (192 kg -1 ha -1 year -1 ) and irrigated with an automatic timer; a design intended to lower N and water requirements (''Low Input'') with the warm season seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) fertilized at 123 kg -1 ha -1 year -1 and irrigated with a soil moisture-based system; and a design incorporating local best practices (''Low Impact'' lawn) that included the native sedge species Carex, fertilized at 48 kg -1 ha -1 year -1 and irrigated by a weather station-based system. Plant N uptake accounted for 33.2 ± 0.5 (tall fescue), 53.7 ± 0.7 (seashore paspalum), and 12.2 ± 1.3 % (Carex) of annual N inputs, while estimated N retention in soil was relatively large and similar in the three lawns (41-46 %). At lower N and water inputs than Typical, Low Input showed the highest annual clipping yield and N uptake, although it also had higher denitrification rates. Leaching inorganic N losses remained low even from the Typical lawn (2 %), while gaseous N losses were highly variable. The Low Input lawn was most efficient in retaining N with relatively low water and N costs, although its fertilization rates could be further reduced to lower gaseous N losses. Our results suggest that the choice of a warm-season, C 4 turf species with reduced rates of irrigation and fertilization is effective in this semi-arid region to maintain high productivity and N retention in plants and soils at low N and water inputs.

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“…Therefore, following the Tiered system for country-specific emission factors, it is useful to measure N 2 O emissions of fertiliser N in combination with applied cattle slurry. In recent years, some experiments were carried out with combined application of fertiliser and cattle slurry to grassland (Clayton et al 1997;Dittert et al 2005;Laughlin 2001, 2002). All experiments reported higher N 2 O emissions when fertiliser and cattle slurry where applied simultaneously than when they were applied separately or with a larger interval in-between.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrous oxide emissions from multiple combined applications of fertiliser and cattle slurry to grassland

et al. 2008

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Fertiliser and manure application are important sources of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from agricultural soils. The current default IPCC emission factor of 1.0% is independent of the type of fertiliser and manure, and application time, method and rate. However, in the IPCC Tiered system it is possible to use more specific emission factors that better reflect the actual fertiliser and manure management in a given country or region. The first and primary aim of this study was to determine whether the combination of cattle slurry injection with fertiliser application, which is common practice in intensively managed grasslands in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries, warrants an adjusted emission factor. A second aim was to evaluate whether alternative emission factors, based on N uptake and N surplus, respectively, give more insight in the N 2 O emission rates of various fertilisation strategies. In a 2-year field experiment on sandy soil in the Netherlands we measured the annual N 2 O emission from grasslands receiving repeated simultaneous applications of fertiliser and cattle slurry. The N 2 O fluxes and N uptake by grass were measured from plots receiving calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) at four application rates, either with or without additional application of liquid cattle slurry, applied through shallow soil injection. The average emission factor for fertiliser-only treatments was 0.15%. The annual N 2 O emissions were similar for treatments receiving only fertiliser or only cattle slurry. In the first experimental year, application of cattle slurry increased the emission factor for fertiliser to 0.35%, but the second year showed no effect of cattle slurry on the emission from fertiliser. With regard to the first objective, we conclude that these results do not conclusively justify an adjusted emission factor for combined application of fertiliser and cattle slurry. To minimise risks however, it is sensible to avoid simultaneous application of fertiliser and cattle slurry. The N 2 O emission factor expressed as percentage of kg N uptake by grass was consistently higher after combined application of fertiliser and cattle slurry (0.29%), compared to fertiliser-only (0.17%). With regard to the second objective we conclude that an emission factor based on N uptake expresses the relatively inefficient N supply of cattle slurry to crop growth better than the traditional emission factor based on N application.

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Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilised grassland: A 2-year study of the effects of N fertiliser form and environmental conditions

Cited by 290 publications

References 23 publications

Reducing nitrous oxide emissions by changing N fertiliser use from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea based formulations

Reducing nitrous oxide emissions by changing N fertiliser use from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea based formulations

Nitrogen budgets of urban lawns under three different management regimes in southern California

Nitrous oxide emissions from multiple combined applications of fertiliser and cattle slurry to grassland

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