Ronald J. Laughlin

Nitrous oxide and dinitrogen emissions from soil under different water regimes and straw amendment

In a laboratory study, soil amended with and without wheat straw (2.8 g kg(-1) soil) was incubated under 70% water holding capacity (WHC), continuously flooded and flooded/drained cycle conditions at 30 degrees C for 51 days. Dinitrogen and N2O evolution and ammonia volatilisation were measured during the incubation. Extractable NH4+-N and NO3--N were determined at the end of the incubation. Entrapped N2, N2O, and dissolved NH4+-N and NO3--N in drainage water were measured in the flooded/drained cycle treatment when the floodwater was drained. The results indicated that N loss through ammonia volatilisation was undetected in all treatments due to the low soil pH value (pHH2O= 5.87) and no air movement. The recovery of urea-15N as N2 was lowest in the continuously flooded treatments (0.75% and 0.96% with and without straw amendment, respectively), highest in the 70% WHC treatments (5.65% and 4.41%, respectively), and intermediate in the flooded/drained cycle treatments (1.79% and 2.65%, respectively). The recovery of urea-15N as N2O was in the same order as that of N2, negligible in the continuously flooded treatments, 0.01% and 0.07% in the flooded/drained cycle treatments, and 1.29% and 2.23% in the 70% WHC treatments, respectively. Peak N2O evolution rates were observed after the floodwater was drained but no substantial evolution was found after the soil was reflooded following drained periods. However, peak N2 evolution rates were observed after the onset of both drainage and re-flooding. Considerable quantities of N2 but no detectable N2O were entrapped in the flooded soil.

Evidence of carbon stimulated N transformations in grassland soil after slurry application

Abstract High nitrification rates which convert ammonium (NH4+) to the mobile ions NO2− and NO3− are of high ecological significance because they increase the potential for N losses via leaching and denitrification. Nitrification can be performed by chemoautotrophic or heterotrophic organisms and heterotrophic nitrifiers can oxidise either mineral (NH4+) or organic N. Selective nitrification inhibitors and 15N tracer studies have been used in an attempt to separate heterotrophic and autotrophic nitrification. In a laboratory study we determined the effect of cattle slurry on the oxidation of mineral NH4+-N and organic-N by labelling the NH4+ or NO3− pools separately or both together with 15N. The size and enrichment of the mineral N pools were determined at intervals. To calculate gross N transformation rates a 15N tracing model was developed. This model consists of the three N-pools NH4+, NO3− and organic N. Sub-models for decomposition of degradable carbon in the soil and the slurry were added to the model and linked to the N transformation rates. The model was set up in the software ModelMaker which contains non-linear optimization routines to determine model parameters. The application of cattle slurry increased the rate of nitrifcation by a factor of 20 compared with the control. The size and enrichment of the mineral N pools provided evidence that nitrification was due to the conversion of NH4+ to NO3− and not the conversion of organic N to NO3−. There was evidence that slurry-enhanced oxidation of NH4+ to NO3− was due to a combination of autotrophic and heterotrophic transformations. Slurry application increased the mineralisation rate by approximately a factor of two compared with the control and the rate of immobilisation of NH4+ by approximately a factor of three.

The nitrification inhibitor DMPP had no effect on denitrifying enzyme activity

Abstract Denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) and flux rates of nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2) were studied in DEA assays on soils treated with 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP). Nitrous oxide and N2 fluxes were quantified by 15N gas-flux method with no additional enzymatic inhibitors, thus, overcoming problems associated with the use of chloramphenicol and acetylene. The nitrification inhibitor DMPP did not affect DEA or the measured gas emissions even when applied in concentrations 14 times higher than the recommended concentration.

Resolution of the 15N balance enigma

The enigma of soil nitrogen balance sheets has been discussed for over 40 years. Many reasons have been considered for the incomplete recovery of 15N applied to soils, including sampling uncertainty, gaseous N losses from plants, and entrapment of soil gases. The entrapment of soil gases has been well documented for rice paddy and marshy soils but little or no work appears to have been done to determine entrapment in drained pasture soils. In this study 15N-labelled nitrate was applied to a soil core in a gas-tight glovebox. Water was applied, inducing drainage, which was immediately collected. Dinitrogen and N2O were determined in the flux through the soil surface, and in the gases released into the glovebox as a result of irrigation or physical destruction of the core. Other components of the N balance were also measured, including soil inorganic-N and organic-N. Quantitative recovery of the applied 15N was achieved when the experiment was terminated 484 h after the 15N-labelled material was applied. Nearly 23% of the 15N was recovered in the glovebox atmosphere as N2 and N2O due to diffusion from the base of the soil core, convective flow after irrigation, and destructive soil sampling. This 15N would normally be unaccounted for using the sampling methodology typically employed in 15N recovery experiments.

Confirmation of co-denitrification in grazed grassland

Pasture-based livestock systems are often associated with losses of reactive forms of nitrogen (N) to the environment. Research has focused on losses to air and water due to the health, economic and environmental impacts of reactive N. Di-nitrogen (N2) emissions are still poorly characterized, both in terms of the processes involved and their magnitude, due to financial and methodological constraints. Relatively few studies have focused on quantifying N2 losses in vivo and fewer still have examined the relative contribution of the different N2 emission processes, particularly in grazed pastures. We used a combination of a high 15N isotopic enrichment of applied N with a high precision of determination of 15N isotopic enrichment by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry to measure N2 emissions in the field. We report that 55.8 g N m−2 (95%, CI 38 to 77 g m−2) was emitted as N2 by the process of co-denitrification in pastoral soils over 123 days following urine deposition (100 g N m−2), compared to only 1.1 g N m−2 (0.4 to 2.8 g m−2) from denitrification. This study provides strong evidence for co-denitrification as a major N2 production pathway, which has significant implications for understanding the N budgets of pastoral ecosystems.

Effect of liquid manure on the mole fraction of nitrous oxide evolved from soil containing nitrate

The same emission factor is applied to fertiliser N and manure N when calculating national N2O inventories. Manures and fertilisers are often applied together to meet the N needs of the crop, but little is known about potential interactions leading to an increase in denitrification rate or a change in the composition of the end-products of denitrification. We used the 15N gas-flux method in a laboratory experiment to quantify the effect of liquid manure (LM) application on the fluxes of N2 and N2O when the soil contained fertiliser 15NO3-. LM increased the mole fraction of N2O from 0.5 to 0.85 in the first 12 h after application. More than 94% of the N2O was from the reduction of NO3-, probably due to aerobic nitrate respiration as well as respiratory denitrification.

N2O and N2 gas fluxes, soil gas pressures, and ebullition events following irrigation of 15NO3–-labelled subsoils

We examined the fate of N2O following the addition of labelled nitrate and subsequent irrigation. Repacked silt loam soil columns, 1 m deep, were wetted up and instrumented with pressure transducers, soil profile gas samplers, and time domain reflectometry rods. Combined substrates (glucose- and 15N-enriched nitrate) were injected at 0.45 m depth. N2O, N2, and NO were monitored in the soil profile and headspaces. When soil profile N2O gas concentrations became elevated, an irrigation event was applied. Immediately prior to the irrigation event, confined drainage (no drainage outlet) and unconfined drainage (lateral drainage outlet at 0.9 m depth) treatments were implemented. Soil profile gas pressures increased following irrigation with pressure changes at 0.375 m chronologically linked to increased pressure pulses in the headspace. Irrigation contributed to decreases in N2O gas concentrations in the soil profile. N2O and N2 displaced in drainage from the unconfined treatment represented 0.01 and 2.3% of the gas in the soil profile immediately prior to irrigation, respectively. Following irrigation, soil gas pressures increased to a maximum of 11.8 kPa at 0.825 m soil depth in the confined drainage treatment but only reached 4.3 kPa at the same depth in the unconfined drainage treatment. It is suggested that ebullition events could possibly contribute to the increased and variable fluxes of N2O, commonly observed, immediately following rainfall or irrigation.