Catherine Hénault

An overview of the crop model stics

Abstract stics is a model that has been developed at INRA (France) since 1996. It simulates crop growth as well as soil water and nitrogen balances driven by daily climatic data. It calculates both agricultural variables (yield, input consumption) and environmental variables (water and nitrogen losses). From a conceptual point of view, stics relies essentially on well-known relationships or on simplifications of existing models. One of the key elements of stics is its adaptability to various crops. This is achieved by the use of generic parameters relevant for most crops and on options in the model formalisations concerning both physiology and management, that have to be chosen for each crop. All the users of the model form a group that participates in making the model and the software evolve, because stics is not a fixed model but rather an interactive modelling platform. This article presents version 5.0 by giving details on the model formalisations concerning shoot ecophysiology, soil functioning in interaction with roots, and relationships between crop management and the soil–crop system. The data required to run the model relate to climate, soil (water and nitrogen initial profiles and permanent soil features) and crop management. The species and varietal parameters are provided by the specialists of each species. The data required to validate the model relate to the agronomic or environmental outputs at the end of the cropping season. Some examples of validation and application are given, demonstrating the generality of the stics model and its ability to adapt to a wide range of agro-environmental issues. Finally, the conceptual limits of the model are discussed.

Loss in microbial diversity affects nitrogen cycling in soil

Microbial communities have a central role in ecosystem processes by driving the Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. However, the importance of microbial diversity for ecosystem functioning is still debated. Here, we experimentally manipulated the soil microbial community using a dilution approach to analyze the functional consequences of diversity loss. A trait-centered approach was embraced using the denitrifiers as model guild due to their role in nitrogen cycling, a major ecosystem service. How various diversity metrics related to richness, eveness and phylogenetic diversity of the soil denitrifier community were affected by the removal experiment was assessed by 454 sequencing. As expected, the diversity metrics indicated a decrease in diversity in the 1/103 and 1/105 dilution treatments compared with the undiluted one. However, the extent of dilution and the corresponding reduction in diversity were not commensurate, as a dilution of five orders of magnitude resulted in a 75% decrease in estimated richness. This reduction in denitrifier diversity resulted in a significantly lower potential denitrification activity in soil of up to 4–5 folds. Addition of wheat residues significantly increased differences in potential denitrification between diversity levels, indicating that the resource level can influence the shape of the microbial diversity–functioning relationship. This study shows that microbial diversity loss can alter terrestrial ecosystem processes, which suggests that the importance of functional redundancy in soil microbial communities has been overstated.

Nitrous oxide emissions under different soil and land management conditions

Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions of three different soils – a rendzina on cryoturbed soil, a hydromorphic leached brown soil and a superficial soil on a calcareous plateau – were measured using the chamber method. Each site included four types of land management: bare soil, seeded unfertilized soil, a suboptimally fertilized rapeseed crop and an overfertilized rapeseed crop. Fluxes varied from –1g to 100g N2O-nitrogen ha–1 day–1. The highest rates of N2O emissions were measured during spring on the hydromorphic leached brown soil which had been fertilized with nitrogen (N); the total emissions during a 5-month period exceeded 3500gNha–1. Significant fluxes were also observed during the summer. Very marked effects of soil type and management were observed. Two factors – the soil hydraulic behaviour and the ability of the microbial population to reduce N2O – appear to be essential in determining emissions of N2O by soils. In fact, the hydromorphic leached brown soil showed the highest emissions, despite having the lowest denitrification potential because of its water-filled pore space and low N2O reductase activity. Soil management also appears to affect both soil nitrate content and N2O emissions.

N2O and NO emissions by agricultural soils with low hydraulic potentials

N2O and NO production were studied on five agricultural soils with low hydraulic potentials. All experiments were performed in a laboratory under standard incubation conditions to limit any intrinsic soil heterogeneity. The mechanisms involved in NO and N2O production was investigated using the inhibitory properties of acetylene on nitrification and N2O reduction. This work confirmed that N2O and NO could be produced by soils under aerobic conditions. Nitrification seemed to be the only process involved in NO production and the main process involved in N2O production by the five studied soils when the water content was low. Nevertheless, aerobic denitrification with N2O release was observed in one soil. The proportion of N emitted as NO and N2O through nitrification varied considerably from soil to soil and, in some soils, also varied with soil hydraulic potential, ranging from 0 to 2.5%, and from 0.03 to 1%, respectively. This study clearly shows that both NO emission and the gaseous N emitted in aerated conditions should be taken into account in determining the N-budget on cultivated soils.

Influence of different agricultural practices (type of crop, form of N-fertilizer) on soil nitrous oxide emissions

Abstract N2O emissions were periodically measured using the static chamber method over a 1-year period in a cultivated field subjected to different agricultural practices including the type of N fertilizer (NH4NO3, (NH4)2SO4, CO(NH2)2 or KNO3 and the type of crop (rapeseed and winter wheat). N2O emissions exhibited the same seasonal pattern whatever the treatment, with emissions between 1.5 and 15 g N ha–1 day–1 during the autumn, 16–56 g N ha–1 day–1 in winter after a lengthy period of freezing, 0.5–70 g N ha–1 day–1 during the spring and lower emissions during the summer. The type of crop had little impact on the level of N2O emission. These emissions were a little higher under wheat during the autumn in relation to an higher soil NO3– content, but the level of emissions was similar over a 7-month period (2163 and 2093 g N ha–1 for rape and wheat, respectively). The form of N fertilizer affected N2O emissions during the month following fertilizer application, with higher emissions in the case of NH4NO3 and (NH4)2SO4, and a different temporal pattern of emissions after CO(NH2)2 application. The proportion of applied N lost as N2O varied from 0.42% to 0.55% with the form of N applied, suggesting that controlling this agricultural factor would not be an efficient way of limiting N2O emissions under certain climatic and pedological situations.

Diversity of denitrifying microflora and ability to reduce N2O in two soils

Abstract The ozone-depleting gas N2O is an intermediate in denitrification, the biological reduction of NO3– to the gaseous products N2O and N2 gas. The molar ratio of N2O produced (N2O/N2O+N2) varies temporally and spatially, and in some soils N2O may be the dominant end product of denitrification. The fraction of NO3–-N emitted as N2O may be due at least in part to the abundance and activity of denitrifying bacteria which possess N2O reductase. In this study, we enumerated NO3–-reducing and denitrifying bacteria, and compared and contrasted collections of denitrifying bacteria isolated from two agricultural soils, one (Auxonne, soil A) with N2O as the dominant product of denitrification, the other (Châlons, soil C) with N2 gas as the dominant product. Isolates were tested for the ability to reduce N2O, and the presence of the N2O reductase (nosZ)-like gene was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific primers coupled with DNA hybridization using a specific probe. The diversity and phylogenetic relationships of members of the collections were established by PCR/restriction fragment length polymorphism of 16s rDNA. The two soils had similar numbers of bacteria which used NO3– as a terminal electron acceptor anaerobically. However, the soil A had many more denitrifiers which reduced NO3– to gaseous products (N2O or N2) than did soil C. Collections of 258 and 281 bacteria able to grow anaerobically in the presence of NO3– were isolated from soil A and soil C, respectively. These two collections contained 66 and 12 denitrifying isolates, respectively, the others reducing NO3– only as far as NO2–. The presence of nosZ sequences was generally a poor predictor of N2O reducing ability: there was agreement between the occurrence of nosZ sequences and the N2O reducing ability for only 42% of the isolates; 35% of the isolates (found exclusively in soil A) without detectable nosZ sequences reduced N2O whereas 21% of the isolates carrying nosZ sequences did not reduce this gas under our assay conditions. Twenty-eight different 16S rDNA restriction patterns (using two restriction endonucleases) were distinguished among the 78 denitrifying isolates. Two types of patterns appeared to be common to both soils. Twenty-three and three types of patterns were found exclusively among bacteria isolated from soils A and C, respectively. The specific composition of denitrifying communities appeared to be different between the two soils studied. This may partly explain the differences in the behaviour of the soils concerning N2O reduction during denitrification.

Nitrous Oxide Emission by Agricultural Soils: A Review of Spatial and Temporal Variability for Mitigation

Abstract This short review deals with soils as an important source of the greenhouse gas N2O. The production and consumption of N2O in soils mainly involve biotic processes: the anaerobic process of denitrification and the aerobic process of nitrification. The factors that significantly influence agricultural N2O emissions mainly concern the agricultural practices (N application rate, crop type, fertilizer type) and soil conditions (soil moisture, soil organic C content, soil pH and texture). Large variability of N2O fluxes is known to occur both at different spatial and temporal scales. Currently new techniques could help to improve the capture of the spatial variability. Continuous measurement systems with automatic chambers could also help to capture temporal variability and consequently to improve quantification of N2O emissions by soils. Some attempts for mitigating soil N2O emissions, either by modifying agricultural practices or by managing soil microbial functioning taking into account the origin of the soil N2O emission variability, are reviewed.

Effect of topography on nitrous oxide emissions from winter wheat fields in Central France.

We assessed nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions at shoulder and foot-slope positions along three sloping sites (1.6-2.1%) to identify the factors controlling the spatial variations in emissions. The three sites received same amounts of total nitrogen (N) input at 170kgNha(-1). Results showed that landscape positions had a significant, but not consistent effect on N(2)O fluxes with larger emission in the foot-slope at only one of the three sites. The effect of soil inorganic N (NH(4)(+)+NO(3)(-)) contents on N(2)O fluxes (r(2)=0.55, p<0.001) was influenced by water-filled pore space (WFPS). Soil N(2)O fluxes were related to inorganic N at WFPS>60% (r(2)=0.81, p<0.001), and NH(4)(+) contents at WFPS<60% (r(2)=0.40, p<0.01), respectively. Differences in WFPS between shoulder and foot-slope correlated linearly with differences in N(2)O fluxes (r(2)=0.45, p<0.001). We conclude that spatial variations in N(2)O emission were regulated by the influence of hydrological processes on soil aeration intensity.

Inoculants of leguminous crops for mitigating soil emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a greenhouse gas which is also responsible for ozone depletion, that mainly originates from soils and agricultural activities. We investigated the ability of inoculants of Bradyrhizobium japonicum carrying the nosZ gene to mitigate soil N2O emissions. The consumption of N2O by strains of Bradyrhizobium japonicum (USDA110 and MSDJ G49) was investigated both on inoculated soybean plants cultivated in soil pots during a greenhouse experiment and on detached nodules submitted to gradients of oxygen and N2O concentrations in laboratory conditions. During the greenhouse experiment, we switched from a system acting as an N2O source (soil + soybean inoculated with a nosZ gene depleted strain) to a system acting as an N2O sink (soil + soybean inoculated with strains carrying the nosZ gene). Nodules of Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110 and MSDJ G49 were both able to reduce N2O under aerobic conditions at rates increasing with N2O concentrations. Calculations using the obtained quantitative results clearly suggest an environmental benefit of this process on the field scale. This study demonstrates that the inoculation of rhizobia strains on leguminous crops is a promising area for mitigating N2O emission by cultivated soils and that further researches are required to best evaluate quantitative benefits.

Inhibitory capacities of acetylene on nitrification in two agricultural soils

Abstract Acetylene is currently used to distinguish between the relative contribution of nitrification and denitrification to soil emissions of the greenhouse gas, N 2 O. The basis of this method is that acetylene at low partial pressures inhibits nitrification without affecting N 2 O reduction. This paper reports experiments where low acetylene partial pressures were insufficient to totally inhibit nitrification in an hypercalcareous rendosol at water potentials higher than −3.5 MPa while they were always sufficient in a redoxic luvisol.