Abstract
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas. Mitigating N2O emission is critical for combating global climate change and improving the ecological environment. Many studies have focused on factors affecting N2O emission from agricultural soils, but rarely on the relationship among these factors. In the present study, continuous measurement on N2O emission was conducted in a maize system in Griffith, Australia and the relationships between N2O emission, soil properties and weather conditions were examined. Principal component analysis and path analysis were used to analyze these data in correlation coefficient and the direct and indirect effects to N2O emission. Results indicated that (1) the major factors affecting N2O emission were WFPS, mineralized nitrogen (Mineral N), daily mean temperature (T mean) and CO2 concentration. The factors of direct influence N2O emission were following Mineral N, CO2, WFPS, and T mean. The indirect influence N2O emission was following T mean, WFPS, Mineral N, and CO2 concentration. (2) The standard multiple regression describing the relationship between N2O emission and its major factors were Y = −37.162 + 0.5267 X 1 + 0.4331 X 2 + 0.3014 X 3 + 0.2392 X 4 (r = 0.924, p < 0.01, n = 151), where Y is N2O emission, X 1 is Mineral N, X 2 is CO2, X 3 is WFPS and X 4 is T mean. (3) N2O emission from agricultural soils can be monitored and mitigated through improved management practices such as irrigation, straw retention and fertilizer application.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berger TW, Neubauer C, Glatzel G (2002) Factors controlling soil carbon and nitrogen stores in pure stands of Norway spruce (Pica abies) and mixed species stands in Austria. For Ecol Manag 159(4):3–14
Cao B, He FY, Xu QM, Yin B, Cai GX (2006) Denitrification losses and N2O emissions from nitrogen fertilizer applied to a vegetable field. Pedosphere 16(3):390–397
Dambreville C, Morvan T, Germon J (2008) N2O emission in maize-crops fertilized with pig slurry, matured pig manure or ammonium nitrate in Brittany. Agric Ecosyst Environ 123(4):201–210
Del Grosso S, Mosier A, Parton W, Ojima D (2005) DAYCENT model analysis of past and contemporary soil N2O and net greenhouse gas flux for major crops in the USA. Soil Tillage Res 83(3):9–24
Eichner M (1990) Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized soils, summary of available data. J Environ Qual 19(6):272–280
Gao CY, Wang LG, Li H, Qiu JJ (2011) Advances and prospects of N2O emission from Cropland at Regional Scale. Scientia Agricultura Sinica 44(2):316–324
Huang L, Gao X, Guo JS, Ma XX, Liu M (2013) A review on the mechanism and affecting factors of nitrous oxide emission in constructed wetlands. Environ Earth Sci 68(8):2171–2180
IPCC (2007) Summary for policy makers. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–18
Li CS, Xiao XM, Frolking S (2003) Greenhouse gas emissions from croplands of China. Quaternary Sci 23:404–493
Liu DY, Song CC (2010) Effects of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment on the emission of N2O from a freshwater marsh soil in Northeast China. Environ Earth Sci 60(4):799–807
Liu GD, Wu WL, Zhang J (2005) Regional differentiation of non-point source pollution of agriculture-derived nitrate nitrogen in groundwater in northern China. Agric Ecosyst Environ 107(2):211–220
Mummey D, Smith J, Bluhm G (1998) Assessment of alternative soil management practices on N2O emissions from US agriculture. Agric Ecosyst Environ 70(3):79–87
Nevison C, Esser G, Holland E (1996) A global model of changing N2O emissions from natural and perturbed soils. Clim Change 32(4):327–378
Oertel C, Herklotz K, Matschullat J, Frank Z (2012) Nitric oxide emissions from soils: a case study with temperate soils from Saxony, Germany. Environ Earth Sci 66(8):2343–2351
Payal G, Asha G, Santosh S (2006) Vermicomposting of different types of waste using Eisenia foetida. A comparative study. Bioresour Technol 97(2):391–395
Phillips R, Podrebarac F (2009) Net fluxes of CO2, but not N2O or CH4, are affected following agronomic-scale additions of urea to prairie and arable soils. Soil Biol Biochem 41(3):2011–2013
Sozanska M, Skiba U, Metcalfe S (2002) Developing an inventory of N2O emissions from British soils. Atmos Environ 26(10):987–998
Stehfest E, Bouwman L (2006) N2O and NO emission from agricultural fields and soils under natural vegetation, summarizing available measurement data and modeling of global annual emissions. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 74(7):207–228
Wang XB, Liang GQ, Zhou W (2009) Effect of optimized nitrogen application on de-nitrification losses and N2O emissions from soil in wheat/summer corn rotation system in North China. Plant Nutr Fertil Sci 15(1):41–48 (in Chinese)
Wang D, Wang B, Dai W, Li P (2011) Path analysis on the correlation variables of organic carbon in soil system of Chinese fir plantations. Chin J Soil Sci 42(4):822–827
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Christopher Ogden (formerly of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar) for his check of English and comments on this paper. This study is supported by Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Australian Research Council.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, C., Chen, D., Pan, J. et al. Analysis of factors controlling soil N2O emission by principal component and path analysis method. Environ Earth Sci 72, 1511–1517 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3056-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3056-5