Abstract
Emissions of nitrogen compounds from heavily fertilized and irrigated maize fields have been studied in the Southwest of France, over an annual cultivation cycle. Strong nitrous oxide emissions from denitrification were observed after application of nitrogen fertilizer. Flux intensity appears to be stimulated by rain or irrigation. Emission algorithms, taking into account both nitrogen input and soil water content were established on the basis of the experimental data set. They allowed us to estimate annual nitrogen loss in the form of nitrous oxide modulated by rainfall. Production of methane is observed at the level of the water table under anoxic conditions. Nevertheless, the net flux between soil and atmosphere is negative for most of the time. When methane is produced, fluxes were very low due to methane oxidation in the soil surface layer.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arrouays, D., J. Baledan, A. Mariotti and C. Girardin, 1995, Modeling organic carbon turnover in cleared temperate soil converted to maize cropping, by using C13 natural abundance measurements, Plant and Soil, 173, pp. 191–196.
Born, M., H. Dörr, and I. Levin, Methane consumption in aerated soils of the temperate zone, Tellus, 42 B, 2–8, 1990.
Bouwman, A. F., Exchange of greenhouse gases between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. In: A. F. Bouwman (Ed.), Soils and the Greenhouse Effect, pp. 61–127, Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 1990.
Bouwman, A. F., I. Fung, E. Matthews and J. John, Global analysis of the potential N2O production in natural soils. Glob. Biogeochem. Cyc., 7, 557–597, 1993.
Bouwman, A. F., Compilation of a global inventory of emissions of nitrous oxide, Ph.D. thesis Wageningen, 1995.
Bronson, K. F., A. R. Mosier, and S. R. Bishnoi, Nitrous oxide emissions in irrigated corn as affected by encapsulated calcium carbide and nitrapyrin, Soil Sci. Am. J., 56, 161–165, 1992.
Cicerone, R. J., and R. S. Oremland, Biogeochemical aspects of atmospheric methane, Glob. Biogeochem. Cyc., 2, 299–337, 1988.
Crutzen, P. J., and D. H. Ehhalt, Effects of nitrogen fertilizers and combustion on the stratospheric ozone layer, Ambio, 6, 112–117, 1977.
Davidson, E. A., Fluxes of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide from terrestrial ecosystems. In: J. E. Rogers and W. B. Whitman (Eds.), Microbial Production and Consumption of Greenhouse Gases: Methane, Nitrogen Oxides, and Halomethanes. American Society of Microbiology, Washington DC, pp. 219–235, 1991.
Delmas, R. A., A. Marenco, J. P. Tathy, B. Cros, and J. G. R. Baudet, Sources and sinks of methane in the African savannah, CH4 emissions from biomass burning, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 7287–7299, 1992.
Delprat, L., P. Chassin, M. Linère and C. Jambert, Characterization of dissolved organic carbon in cleared forest soils converted to maize cultivation, submitted to European Journal of Agronomy, 1996.
Dörr, H., L. Katruff and I. Levin, Soil texture parametrisation of the methane uptake in aerated soils, Chemosphere, vol. 26, pp. 697–714, 1993.
Eichner, M. J., Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized soils: Summary of available data. J. Environ. Qual., 19, pp. 272–280, 1990.
Fung, I., J. John, J. Lerner, E. Matthews; M. Prather, L. P. Steele, and P. J. Fraser, Three dimensional model synthesis of the global methane cycle, J. Geophys. Res., 96, pp. 13,033–13,065, 1991.
Goulding, K. W. T., B. W. Hütsch, C. P. Webster, T. W. Willison, and D. S. Powlson, The effect of agriculture on methane oxidation in soil, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A., 351, 313–325, 1995.
Granli, T. and O. C. Bøckman, Nitrous oxide from agriculture, Norwegian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 12, 1994.
IPCC, Climate Change 1992. The supplementary report to the IPCC Scientific Assessment. J. T. Houghton, B. A. Callander & S. K. Varney (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992.
IPCC, Climate Change 1994. J.T. Houghton, L.G. Meira Filho, J. Bruce Hoensung Lee, B.A. Callander, E. Haites, N. Harris & K. Maskell (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995.
Jambert, C., R. A. Delmas, L. Labroue, and P. Chassin, Nitrogen compound emission from fertilized soils in a maize field pine tree forest agrosystem in the Southwest of France, J. Geophys. Res., 99, pp. 16,523–16,530, 1994.
Kalhil, M. A. K., and R. A. Rasmussen, Constraints on the global sources of methane and an analysis of recent budgets, Tellus, 42B, pp. 229–236, 1990.
Labroue, L., R. A. Delmas, D. Serça and J. Dagnac, La pollution nitratée des nappes phréatiques, facteur de pollution atmosphérique, Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris, 313, série III, pp. 119–124, 1991.
Linn, D. M. and J. W. Doran, Effect of water-filled pore space on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide production in tilled and nontilled soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 48, pp. 1267–1272, 1984.
Magalhaes, A. M. T., P. M. Chong and W. M. Strong, Effect of nitrapyrin on nitrous oxide emission from fallow soils fertilized with anhydrous ammonia. Fert. Res., 5, pp. 411–421, 1984.
Minami, K., Nitrification inhibitors on emission of N2O from soils, Proceedings of CH4 and N2O workshop, Tsukuba (Japan), March 25–26, 1992.
Mosier, A. R., Nitrous oxide emission s from agricultural soils. In: A. R. Van Amstel (ed.), Methane and Nitrous Oxide: Methods in National Emission Inventories and Options for Control Proceedings. National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, pp. 273–275, 1993.
Nesbit, S. P., and G. A. Breitenbeck, A laboratory study of factors influencing methane uptake by soils, Agric. Ecosys. Env., 41, pp. 39–54, 1992.
Parton, W. J., A. R. Mosier, D. S. Ojima, D. W. Valentine, D. S. Schimel, K. Weier, and A. E. Kulmala, Generalized model for N2 and N2O production from nitrification and denitrification, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, vol. 10,No 3, pp. 401–412, 1996.
Plenet, D., Fonctionnement des cultures de maïs sous contrainte azotée. Détermination et application d'un indice de nutrition. Ph.D. Thesis INPL, 31 mai 1995.
Serça, D., R. A. Delmas, C. Jambert and L. Labroue, Emissions of nitrogen oxides from equatorial rainforest in central Africa: origin and regulation of NO emissions from soil, Tellus, 46B, pp. 243–254, 1994.
Skopp, J., D. M. Jawson and J. W. Doran, Steady state aerobic microbial activity as a function of soil water content, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 54, pp. 1619–1625, 1990.
Striegl, R. G., Diffusional limits to the consumption of atmospheric methane by soils, Chemosphere, vol. 26, pp. 715–720, 1993.
Warneck, P., Chemistry of the natural atmosphere, Academic Press, London, 41, 1988.
Weier K. L., J. W. Doran, J. F. Power & D. T. Walters, Denitrification and dinitrogen/nitrous oxide ratio as affected by soil water, available carbon and nitrate. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 57, pp. 66–72, 1993.
Wuebbles, D. J. and J. S. Tamaresis, The role of methane in the global environment. In: M. A. K. Khalil (Ed.), Atmospheric Methane: Sources, Sinks, and Role in Global Change, pp. 469–513, 1993.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jambert, C., Delmas, R., Serça, D. et al. N2O and CH4 emissions from fertilized agricultural soils in southwest France. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 48, 105–114 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009791727513
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009791727513