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Char Amendments Impact Soil Nitrous Oxide Production during Ammonia Oxidation
Author(s) -
Wells Naomi S.,
Baggs Elizabeth M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2013.11.0468n
Subject(s) - biochar , char , charcoal , nitrous oxide , denitrification , soil water , chemistry , environmental chemistry , nitrogen , soil conditioner , environmental science , pyrolysis , soil science , organic chemistry
Biochar (char) soil amendments are speculated to be able to lower emission of the greenhouse gas N2O, yet the mechanism through which chars might control soil N cycling is not understood. To disentangle the role of N 2 O production and reduction pathways, we incubated fallow soils containing either woody charcoal or activated C with single and double 15 N labelled NH 4 NO 3 . This revealed a systemic oversight in conventional thought on char's impact on N 2 O emissions: Although char additions did influence soil N 2 O emissions, this influence came primarily via ammonia oxidation and not from changes in production or reduction of N 2 O during denitrification. The direction and magnitude of this impact was char dependent, and based on the 27% increase in N 2 O emissions with woody charcoal additions, we conclude that the net emissions factor for chars could potentially be positive.