Open AccessEffects of fertilizer application schemes and soil environmental factors on nitrous oxide emission fluxes in a rice-wheat cropping system, east China
Author(s) -
Awais Shakoor,
Xu Yajuan,
Qiang Wang,
Ningyi Chen,
Fei He,
Huaifeng Zuo,
Hanxun Yin,
Xiaoyuan Yan,
Youhua Ma,
Shuyun Yang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0202016
Subject(s) - fertilizer , agronomy , nitrous oxide , environmental science , tillage , irrigation , greenhouse gas , cropping system , multiple cropping , agricultural soil science , paddy field , soil water , crop yield , crop , chemistry , no till farming , soil fertility , biology , soil science , sowing , ecology , organic chemistry
Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with agricultural soils representing its largest anthropogenic source. However, the mechanisms involved in the N 2 O emission and factors affecting N 2 O emission fluxes in response to various nitrogenous fertilizer applications remain uncertain. We conducted a four-year (2012–2015) field experiment to assess how fertilization scheme impacts N 2 O emissions from a rice-wheat cropping system in eastern China. The fertilizer treatments included Control (CK), Conventional fertilizer (CF), CF with shallow-irrigation (CF+SI), CF with deep-irrigation system (CF+DI), Optimized fertilizer (OF), OF with Urease inhibitor (OF+UI), OF with conservation tillage (OF+CT) and Slow-release fertilizer (SRF). N 2 O emissions were measured by a closed static chamber method. N 2 O emission fluxes ranged from 0.61 μg m -2 h -1 to 1707 μg m -2 h -1 , indicating a significant impact of nitrogen fertilizer and cropping type on N 2 O emissions. The highest crop yields for wheat (3515–3667 kg ha -1 ) and rice (8633–8990 kg ha -1 ) were observed under the SRF and OF+UI treatments with significant reduction in N 2 O emissions by 16.94–21.20% and 5.55–7.93%, respectively. Our findings suggest that the SRF and OF+UI treatments can be effective in achieving maximum crop yield and lowering N 2 O emissions for the rice-wheat cropping system in eastern China.