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Increased soil-derived N2O production following a simulated fall-freeze–thaw cycle: effects of fall urea addition, soil moisture, and history of manure applications

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Abstract

Adding nitrogen fertilizers to soils can induce short-term changes in soil N pools, and consequently cause extra release of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions that are sourced directly from soils rather than from added N – a response termed the ‘priming effect’. However, it is unknown how priming effects on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions can be altered following a strong freeze–thaw cycle. A mesocosm (pot) experiment evaluated two soil managements: with and without history of manure applications. These soils were subjected to three moisture regimes: Low, Medium and High. Apart from the controls, which received no N, we banded 15 N-labelled urea into these soils representing a typical fall fertilization, and subsequently simulated a wide fall-freeze–thaw cycle, with temperatures from + 2, to − 18, and finally + 23 °C, respectively. The overall highest N2O production was observed 1 day after thawing. At that time, measurements of N2O site preference indicated that denitrification produced 83% of the N2O flux. Relative to the unamended controls (baseline), adding urea consistently triggered a 24% greater cumulative N2O production originated from soil N following thawing (245 vs. 305 μg N2O-N kg−1 soil, P = 0.022). This substantiates a positive priming of N2O that manifested shortly after the rapid, wet thawing of the soils. Soils having a manure history or higher moisture also exhibited an augmented production of N2O from soil N rather than from the added urea (Ps < 0.01). Although the overall N2O priming was positive, two weeks after thawing, negative priming of daily N2O fluxes also occurred, but only in soils under High moisture. Besides urea addition, the propensity for primed N2O emissions after soil thawing was enhanced under higher moisture conditions and in the soil with history of manure applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very thankful for the technical and human support by Leanne Chai, Kurt Forsch, Rebecca Keating, Alan Lee, Jichen Li and Sumeet Kumar Singh.

Funding

We would like to acknowledge Canada Foundation for Innovation (John Evans Leadership Fund [32860]), Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency Ltd. (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry – Innovation Program [2016F034R]), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant [2018–05717]) for their financial support of this research.

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  1. Department of Renewable Resources Department, Faculty of Agricultural Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, 426 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada

    Sisi Lin & Guillermo Hernandez-Ramirez

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  1. Sisi Lin
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Lin, S., Hernandez-Ramirez, G. Increased soil-derived N2O production following a simulated fall-freeze–thaw cycle: effects of fall urea addition, soil moisture, and history of manure applications. Biogeochemistry 157, 379–398 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00880-x

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