Abstract
Purpose
Urea combined with nitrification inhibitors (NI) can significantly reduce nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) compared to urea. However, there is a lack of evidence for higher agronomic benefits and better environmental benefits, i.e., the ability to minimize N2O emissions and improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE) while maintaining high yield under N application rates lower than conventional N application rates.
Methods
A 3-year in situ fertilization experiment was conducted under film mulching conditions in the Loess Plateau region with low rainfall. Three treatments of conventional N fertilization (CK), reduced N fertilization (RN), and RN with NI (RN + NI) were used to quantify soil N2O emissions, plant N uptake, NUE, and grain yield.
Results
RN and RN + NI treatments significantly reduced N2O emissions by 17.29–29.15% and 56.00–60.51%, respectively, and significantly increased NUE by 10.79–21.27% and 17.11–25.70%, respectively, compared with CK treatment. However, there was no significant difference in average plant N uptake (178.96–191.37 kg N ha−1) and grain yield (7.84–8.14 t ha−1) among CK, RN, and RN + NI treatments. Furthermore, higher available soil water storage at sowing and large rainfall events during the first month after fertilization would enhance the effect of NI on inhibiting N2O emissions, since the efficiency of NI in reducing N2O emissions depends on the level of water-filled pore space.
Conclusions
Therefore, reducing N application combined with NI can be used as an effective N fertilizer management measure, which is helpful to achieve agriculture sustainable development in areas similar to the climate model of the Loess Plateau.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Dan Liu and Dr. Peng Wu for writing assistance and proof reading the article. We also thank the technicians who collected samples for us during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding
This study received financial support from the following agencies: the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (“863 Program”), the 12th 5-Year Plan (2013AA102902), the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B12007), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M683582).
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Xiaorong Wu designed the research and analyzed the results and writing—original draft preparation. Junjie Li: test layout and sampling. Tao Zhang: test layout and sampling. Xuanke Xue: test layout and sampling. Shakeel Ahmad revised the manuscript for English. Baoping Yang, Zhikuan Jia, and Xudong Zhang modified the manuscript. Qingfang Han designed the research and provide technical support.
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Wu, X., Li, J., Zhang, T. et al. Higher Available Soil Water Storage at Sowing and Frequency of Rainfall Events During the First Month Enhanced the Inhibitory Effect of Nitrification Inhibitor on Nitrous Oxide Emissions. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 24, 1278–1287 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-024-01628-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-024-01628-w