Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Emission of nitrous oxide from soils used for agriculture

  • Published:
Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nitrous oxide is emitted into the atmosphere as a result of biomass burning, and biological processes in soils. Biomass burning is not only an instantaneous source of nitrous oxide, but it results in a longer term enhancement of the biogenic production of this gas. Measurements of nitrous oxide emissions from soils before and after a controlled burn showed that significantly more nitrous oxide was exhaled after the burn. The current belief is that 90% of the emissions come from soils. Nitrous oxide is formed in soils during the microbiological processes nitrification and denitrification. Because nitrous oxide is a gas it can escape from soil during these transformations. Nitrous oxide production is controlled by temperature, pH, water holding capacity of the soil, irrigation practices, fertilizer rate, tillage practice, soil type, oxygen concentration, availability of carbon, vegetation, land use practices and use of chemicals. Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils are increased by the addition of fertilizer nitrogen and by the growth of legumes to fix atmospheric nitrogen. A recent analysis suggests that emissions of nitrous oxide from fertilized soils are not related to the type of fertilizer nitrogen applied and emissions can be calculated from the amount of nitrogen applied. Legumes also contribute to nitrous oxide emission in a number of ways, viz. atmospheric nitrogen fixed by legumes can be nitrified and denitrified in the same way as fertilizer nitrogen, thus providing a source of nitrous oxide, and symbiotically living Rhizobia in root nodules are able to denitrify and produce nitrous oxide. Conversion of tropical forests to crop production and pasture has a significant effect on the emission of nitrous oxide. Emissions of nitrous oxide increased by about a factor of two when a forest in central Brazil was clear cut, and pasture soils in the same area produced three times as much nitrous oxide as adjacent forest soils. Studies on temperate and tropical rice fields show that less than 0.1% of the applied nitrogen is emitted as nitrous oxide if the soils are flooded for a number of days before fertilizer application. However, if mineral nitrogen is present in the soil before flooding it will serve as a source of nitrous oxide during wetting and drying cycles before permanent flooding. Thus dry seeded rice can be a source of considerable nitrous oxide. There are also indirect contributions to nitrous oxide emission through volatilization of ammonia and emission of nitric oxides into the atmosphere, and their redistribution over the landscape through wet and dry deposition. In general nitrous oxide emissions can be decreased by management practices which optimize the crop's natural ability to compete with processes whereby plant available nitrogen is lost from the soil-plant system. If these options were implemented they would also result in increased productivity and reduced inputs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson I C, Levine J S, Poth M A and Riggan P J (1988) Enhanced biogenic emissions of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide following surface biomass burning. J. Geophys Res. 93: 3893–3898

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aulakh M S, Rennie D A and Paul E A (1984a) Gaseous nitrogen losses from soils under zero-till as compared with conventionaltill management systems. J. Environ. Qual. 13: 130–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Aulakh M S, Rennie D A and Paul E A (1984b) Acetylene and N-serve effects upon N2O emissions from NH +4 and NO −3 treated soils under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Soil Biol. Biochem. 16: 351–356

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bacon P E, Hoult E H and McGarity JW (1986) Ammonia volatilization from fertilizers applied to irrigated wheat soils. Fert. Res. 10: 27–42

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Badr O and Probert S D (1992) Sources of atmospheric nitrous oxide. Appl. Energy 42: 129–176

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee N K and Mosier A R (1989) Coated calcium carbide as a nitrification inhibitor in upland and flooded soils. J. Indian Soc. Soil Sci. 37: 306–313

    Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee N K, Mosier A R, Uppal K S and Goswami N N (1990) Use of encapsulated calcium carbide to reduce denitrification losses from urea-fertilized flooded rice. Mitteilgn. Dtsch. Bodenkundl. Gesellsch. 60: 245–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Banin A (1986) Global budget of N2O: The role of soils and their change. Sci. Total Environ. 55: 27–38

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Black A S, Sherlock R R, Smith N P and Cameron K C (1989) Ammonia volatilisation from urea broadcast in spring on to autumn-sown wheat. New Zealand J. Crop Hort. Sci. 14: 175–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowden W B and Bormann F H (1986) Transport and loss of nitrous oxide in soil water after forest clear-cutting. Science 233: 867–869

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bouwman A F (1990) Soils and the Greenhouse Effect. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouwman A F (1993) The global source distribution of nitrous oxide. In: van Amstel A R (ed.) Methane and Nitrous Oxide, RIVM report no. 481507003: 261–272. National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouwman A F (1994) Method to estimate direct nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils. Report no. 773004004: 28. National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremner J M and Blackmer A F (1978) Nitrous oxide: Emissions from soils during nitrification of fertilizer nitrogen. Science 199: 295–296

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner J M and Blackmer A M (1979) Effects of acetylene and soil water content on emissions of nitrous oxide from soils. Nature (London) 280: 380–381

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner J M, Breitenbeck G A and Blackmer A M (1981) Effect of nitrapyrin on emission of nitrous oxide from soil fertilized with anhydrous ammonia. Geophys. Res. Lett. 8: 353–356

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bronson K F and Mosier A R (1992) Nitrous oxide emissions and methane consumption in wheat and corn-cropped systems in northeastern Colorado, In: Harper L A et al. (eds.) Agricultural Ecosystem Effects on Trace Gases and Global Climate Change: 133–144. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronson K F, Mosier A R and Bishnoi S R (1992) Nitrous oxide emissions in irrigated corn as affected by nitrification inhibitors. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 161–165

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bundy L G and Oberle S L (1988) Evaluation of methods for control of ammonia volatilization from surface-applied urea-containing fertilizers. J. Fert. Issues 5: 24–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen D L, Freney J R, Mosier A R and Chalk P M (1994) Reducing denitrification loss with nitrification inhibitors following presowing applications of fertiliser nitrogen to cotton fields. Aust. J. Expt. Agric. 34: 75–83

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton H, Arah J R M and Smith K A (1994) Measurement of nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized grassland using closed chambers. J. Geophys. Res. 99: 16599–16607

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford D M and Chalk P M (1992) Mineralization and immobilization of soil and fertilizer nitrogen with nitrification inhibitors and solvents. Soil Biol. Biochem. 24: 559–568

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crutzen P J, Heidt L E, Krasnec J P, Pollock W H and Seiler W (1979) Biomass burning as a source of atmospheric gases CO, H2, N2O, NO, CH3Cl and COS. Nature 282: 253–256

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De Datta S K, Buresh R J, Samson M I, Obcemea W N and Real J G (1991) Direct measurement of ammonia and denitrification fluxes from urea applied to rice. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55: 543–548

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De Datta S K, Trevitt A C F, Freney J R, Obcemea W N, Real J G and Simpson J R (1989) Measuring nitrogen losses from lowland rice using bulk aerodynamic and nitrogen-15 balance methods. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 53: 1275–1281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denmead O T, Freney J R and Simpson J R (1982) Dynamics of ammonia volatilization during furrow irrigation of maize. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 46: 149–155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Doerge T A, Roth R L and Gardner B R (1991) Nitrogen Fertilizer Management in Arizona. College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Duxbury J M and McConnaughey P K (1986) Effect of fertilizer source on denitrification and nitrous oxide emission in a maize field. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 644–648

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Duxbury J M, Bouldin D R, Terry R E and Tate R L (1982) Emissions of nitrous oxide from soils. Nature 298: 462–464

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eichner M J (1990) Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized soils: Summary of avaliable data. J. Environ. Qual. 19: 272–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fillery I R P and Vlek P L G (1986) Reappraisal of the significance of ammonia volatilization as an N loss mechanism in flooded rice fields. Fert. Res. 9: 79–98

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freney J R, Simpson J R and Denmead O T (1983) Volatilization of ammonia. In: Freney J R and Simpson J R (eds.) Gaseous Loss of Nitrogen from Plant-Soil Systems: 1–32. Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W Junk Publishers, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Freney J R, Smith C J and Mosier A R (1992a) Effect of a new nitrification inhibitor (wax-coated calcium carbide) on transformations and recovery of fertilizer nitrogen by irrigated wheat. Fert. Res. 32: 1–11

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freney J R, Denmead O T, Watanabe I and Craswell E T (1981) Ammonia and nitrous oxide losses following applications of ammonium sulfate to flooded rice. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 32: 37–45

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freney J R, Trevitt A C F, De Datta S K, Obcemea W N and Real J G (1990) The interdependence of ammonia volatilization and denitrification as nitrogen loss processes in flooded rice fields in the Philippines. Biol. Fertil. Soils 9: 31–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freney J R, Chen D L, Mosier A R, Rochester I J, Constable G A and Chalk P M (1993) Use of nitrification inhibitors to increase fertilizer nitrogen recovery and lint yield in irrigated cotton. Fert. Res. 34: 37–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freney J R, Denmead O T, Wood A W, Saffigna P G, Chapman L S, Ham G J, Hurney A P and Stewart R L (1992b) Factors controlling ammonia loss from trash covered sugarcane fields fertilized with urea. Fert. Res. 31: 341–349

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Galbally I E (1985) The emission of nitrogen to the remote atmosphere. In: Galloway J N et al. (eds). The Biogeochemical Cycling of Sulfur and Nitrogen in the Remote Atmosphere: 27–53. Reidel, Dordrecht, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Galbally I E and Gillett R W (1988) Processes regulating nitrogen compounds in the tropical atmosphere. In: Rodhe H and Herrera R (eds.) Acidification in Tropical Countries: 73–115. J Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Galbally I E, Fraser P J, Meyer C P and Griffith D W T (1992) Biosphere-atmosphere exchange of trace gases over Australia. In: Gifford R M and Barson M M (eds.) Australia's Renewable Resources Sustainability and Global Change. Bureau of Rural Resources Proceedings No. 14: 117–149. AGPS: Canberra, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Granli T and Bockman O C (1994) Nitrous oxide from agriculture. Norwegian J. Agric. Sci. Supplement No. 12: 128

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper L A, Catchpoole V R and Vallis I (1983) Ammonia loss from fertilizer applied to tropical pastures. In: Freney J R and Simpson J R (eds.) Gaseous Loss of Nitrogen from Plant-Soil Systems: 195–214. Martinus Nijhoff / Dr W Junk Publishers, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauck R D (1984) Technological approaches to improving the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use by crop plants. In: Hauck R D (ed.) Nitrogen in Crop Production: 551–560. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Hynes R K and Knowles R (1982) Effects of acetylene on autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification. Can. J. Microbiol. 60: 355–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Keerthisinghe D G, Freney J R and Mosier A R (1993) Effect of wax-coated calcium carbide and nitrapyrin on nitrogen loss and methane emission from dry-seeded flooded rice. Biol. Fertil. Soils 16: 71–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller G D and Mengel D B (1986) Ammonia volatilization from nitrogen fertilizers surface applied to no-till corn. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 1060–1063

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keller M, Kaplan W A and Wofsy S C (1986) Emissions of N2O, CH4 and CO2 from tropical forest soils. J. Geophys. Res. 91: 11791–11802

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keller M, Veldkamp A M, Weltz A M and Reiners W A (1993) Effect of pasture age on soil trace-gas emissions from a deforested area of Costa Rica. Nature 365: 244–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhlbusch T A, Lobert J M, Crutzen P J and Warneck P (1991) Molecular nitrogen emissions from denitrification during biomass burning. Nature 351: 135–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lobert J M, Scharfe D H, Hao W M and Crutzen P J (1990) Importance of biomass burning in the atmospheric budgets of nitrogencontaining gases. Nature 346: 552–554

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luizao F, Matson P, Livingston G, Luizao R and Vitousek P (1989) Nitrous oxide flux following tropical land clearing. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 3: 281–285

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty G W and Bremner J M (1986) Inhibition of nitrification in soil by acetylenic compounds. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 1198–1201

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCarty G W and Bremner J M (1990) Evaluation of 2-ethynylpyridine as a soil nitrifcation inhibitor. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 54: 1017–1021

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McTaggart I, Clayton H and Smith K (1994) Nitrous oxide flux from fertilized grassland: Strategies for reducing emissions. In: J. van Ham et al. (eds.) Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases: 421–426. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Magalhaes A M T, Chalk P M and Strong W M (1984) Effect of nitrapyrin on nitrous oxide emission from fallow soils fertilized with anhydrous ammonia. Fert. Res. 5: 411–421

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Minami K, Shibuya T, Ogawa Y and Fukushi S (1990) Effect of nitrifcation inhibitors on emission of nitrous oxide from soils. Trans. 14th Int. Congress of Soil Sci. 2: 267–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosier A R (1989) Chamber and isotope techniques. In: Andreae M O and Schimel D S (eds.) Exchange of Trace Gas Between Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere: 175–187. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosier A R, Parton W J and Hutchinson G L (1983) Modelling nitrous oxide evolution from cropped and native soils. Ecol. Bull. 35: 229–241

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mosier A R, Chapman S L and Freney J R (1989) Determination of dinitrogen emission and retention in floodwater and porewater of a lowland rice field fertilized with 15N-urea. Fert. Res. 19: 127–136

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mosier A R, Duxbury J M, Freney J R, Heinemeyer O and Minami K (1995) Nitrous oxide emission from agricultural fields: assessment, measurements and mitigation. Plant Soil (in press)

  • Muzio L J and Kramlich J C (1988) An artifact in the measurement of N2O from combustion sources. Geophys. Res. Lett. 15: 1369–1372

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O'Hara G W and Daniel R M (1985) Rhizobial denitrification: a review. Soil Biol. Biochem. 17: 1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peoples M B, Mosier A R and Freney J R (1995) Minimizing gaseous loss of nitrogen. In: Bacon P E (ed.) Nitrogen Fertilizers in the Environment: 565–602. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahrawat K L and Keeney D R (1986) Nitrous oxide emission from soils. Adv. Soil Sci. 4: 103–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahrawat K L, Keeney D R and Adams S S (1987) Ability of nitrapyrin, dicyandiamide and acetylene to retard nitrification in a mineral and an organic soil. Plant Soil 101: 179–182

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson J R, Freney J R, Wetselaar R, Muirhead W A, Leuning R and Denmead O T (1984) Transformations and losses of urea nitrogen after application to flooded rice. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 35: 189–200

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Skiba U, Fowler D and Smith K (1994) Emissions of NO and N2O from soils. Environ. Monitor. Assess. 31: 153–158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walter H M, Keeney D R and Fillery I R (1979) Inhibition of nitrification by acetylene. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 43: 195–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Winstead E L, Cofer III W R and Levine J S (1991) Emissions of nitrous oxide from biomass burning. In: Levine J S (ed.) Global Biomass Burning: Atmospheric Climatic and Biospheric Implications: 376–378. MIT Press, Cambridge, MS, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Z L (1992) Efficient management of nitrogen fertilizers for flooded rice in relation to nitrogen transformations in flooded soils. Pedosphere 2: 97–114

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plant Industry, CSIRO, G.P.O. Box 1600, Canberra, A.C.T, 2601, Australia

    J.R. Freney

Authors
  1. J.R. Freney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Freney, J. Emission of nitrous oxide from soils used for agriculture. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 49, 1–6 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009702832489

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009702832489

Search

Navigation