Use of the agricultural practice of pasture termination in reducing soil N2O emissions in high-rainfall cropping systems of south-eastern Australia

Abstract

Abstract. Conversion of long-term pasture to cropping was investigated for its effects on nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions in a 2-year field experiment in the high-rainfall zone of south-western Victoria. Early termination (pasture terminated 6 months before sowing) followed by winter (ETw) and spring (ETs) crops and late termination (pasture terminated 1 month before sowing) followed by a winter crop (LTw) were compared with continuous, mown pasture (MP). Emissions of N 2 O were measured with an automated gas sampling and analysing system.Emissions from MP were the lowest throughout the study, resulting in annual losses of 0.13 kg N 2 O-N ha -1 in the first and the second years of the experiment. N 2 O-N loss was 0.6 kg ha -1 from treatments without fallow in both years (LTw in 2013 and ETs in 2014). In the first year, annual losses from previous fallow in ETw and ETs plots were 7.1 and 3.6 kg N 2 O-N ha -1 , respectively. Higher annual N 2 O losses from treatments with fallow periods continued in the second year of the study and were 2.0 and 1.3 kg N 2 O-N ha -1 from ETw and LTw treatments, respectively. High emissions were associated with N mineralisation and the accumulation of NO 3 -N in the soil during the extensive fallow period after early pasture termination or wheat harvest. Soil water content was a key factor influencing the temporal fluctuations in N 2 O emissions. Low emissions occurred when water-filled pore space was <30%, whereas high emissions occurred when it was >65%, suggesting that denitrification was the major source of N 2 O emission. Crop grain yield was not affected by the duration of fallow (and therefore timing of pasture termination) in the first year, but was lower (P < 0.05) in the treatment without fallow in the second year. Terminating pasture late rather than early, thus reducing the length of the fallow period, is a practical way of reducing N 2 O emissions from mixed pasture-cropping systems.

Nitrification rates and associated nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils – a synopsis

“…from land-use change), might result in high fluxes of N 2 O. This scenario can be seen from the field-scale measurements at the Hamilton site where cropping has been introduced into productive pasture (Belyaeva et al 2016).…”