Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The effect of moisture on nitrous oxide emissions from soil and the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio under laboratory conditions

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biology and Fertility of Soils Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N2O) contributes to greenhouse effect; however, little information on the consequences of different moisture levels on N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio is available. The aim of this work was to analyze the influence of different soil moisture values and thus of redox conditions on absolute and relative emissions of N2O and N2 at intact soil cores from a Vertic Argiudoll. For this reason, the effect of water-filled porosity space (WFPS) values of soil cores of 40, 80,100, and 120% (the last one with a 2-cm surface water layer) was investigated. The greatest N2O emission occurred at 80% WFPS treatment where conditions were not reductive enough to allow the complete reduction to N2. The N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio was lowest (0–0.051) under 120% WFPS and increased with decreasing soil moisture content. N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio values significantly correlated with soil Eh; redox conditions seemed to control the proportion of N gases emitted as N2O. N2O emissions did not correlate satisfactorily with N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio values, whereas they were significantly explained by the amount of total N2O+N2 emissions.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bandibas J, Vermoesen A, De Groot CJ, Van Cleemput O (1994) The effect of different moisture regimes and soil characteristics on nitrous oxide emission and consumption by different soils. Soil Sci 158:106–114

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bergsma TT, Robertson GP, Ostrom NE (2002) Influence of soil moisture and land use history on denitrification end-products. J Environ Qual 31:711–717

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bøckman OC, Olfs HW (1998) Fertilizers, agronomy and N2O. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 52:165–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carole RS, Scarigelli FP (1971) Colorimetric determination of nitrate after hydrazine reduction to nitrite. Microchem J 16:657–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carran RA, Theobald PW, Evans JP (1995) Emission of nitrous oxide from some grazed pasture soils in New Zealand. Aust J Soil Res 33:341–352

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton H, McTaggart IP, Parker J (1997) Nitrous oxide emission from fertilized grassland: a 2-year study of the effects of N fertilizer form and environmental conditions. Biol Fertil Soils 25:252–260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crutzen PJ (1979) The role of NO and NO2 in the chemistry of the troposphere and stratosphere. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 7:443–472

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dalal RC, Wang W, Robertson GP, Parton WJ (2003) Nitrous oxide emission from Australian agricultural lands and mitigation options: a review. Aust J Soil Res 41:165–195

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dobbie KE, Smith KA (2001) The effects of temperature, water-filled pore space and land use on N2O emissions from an imperfectly drained gleysol. Eur J Soil Sci 52:667–673

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dobbie KE, Smith KA (2003) Nitrous oxide emission factors for agricultural soils in Great Britain: the impact of soil water-filled pore space and other controlling variables. Glob Change Biol 9:204–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elmi AA, Madramootoo C, Hamel C, Liu A (2003) Denitrification and nitrous oxide to nitrous oxide plus dinitrogen ratios in the soil profile under three tillage systems. Biol Fertil Soils 38:340–348

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gaskell JF, Blackmer AM, Bremner JM (1981) Comparison of effects of nitrate, and nitric oxide on reduction of nitrous oxide to dinitrogen by soil microorganisms. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:1124–1127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Granli T, Bøckman O (1994) Nitrous oxide from agriculture. Nor J Agric Sci Suppl 12:7–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Hao WM, Scharffe D, Crutzen PJ, Sanhueza E (1988) Production of N2O, CH4 and CO2 from soils in the typical savanna during the dry season. J Atmos Chem 7:93–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstra N, Bouwman AF (2005) Denitrification in agricultural soils: summarizing published data and estimating global annual rates. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 72:267–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inubushi K, Naganuma H, Kitahara S (1996) Contribution of denitrification and autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification to nitrous oxide production in andosols. Biol Fertil Soils 23:292–298

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kester RA, Deboer W, Laanbroek HJ (1997) Production of NO and N2O by pure cultures of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria during changes in aeration. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:3872–3877

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khalil MI, Baggs EM (2005) CH4 oxidation and N2O emissions at varied soil water-filled pore spaces and headspace CH4 concentrations. Soil Biol Biochem 37:1785–1794

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klemedtsson L, Svensson BH, Roswall T (1988) A method of selective inhibition to distinguish between nitrification and denitrification as sources of nitrous oxide in soil. Biol Fertil Soils 6:112–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles R (1982) Denitrification. Microbiol Rev 46:43–70

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liang BC, Mackenzie AF (1997) Seasonal denitrification rates under corn (Zea mays L.) in two Quebec soils. Can J Soil Sci 77:21–25

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marinho EVA, DeLaune RD, Lindau CW (2004) Nitrous oxide flux from soybeans grown on Mississippi alluvial soil. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 35:1–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McSwiney CP, McDowell WH, Keller M (2002) Distribution of nitrous oxide and regulators of its production across a tropical rainforest catena in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Eur J Soil Sci 53:265–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DW, Sommers LE (1982) Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. In: Page AL (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, pp 539–579

    Google Scholar 

  • Olde Venterink H, Davidsson TE, Kiehl K, Leonardson L (2002) Impact of drying and re-wetting on N, P and K dynamics in a wetland soil. Plant Soil 243:119–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkin TB (1987) Soil microsites as a source of denitrification variability. Soil Sci Soc Am J 51:1194–1199

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Patrick WH, Gambrell RP, Faulkner SP (1996) Redox measurement of Soils. In: Sparks DL (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, pp 1255–1273

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie GAF, Nicholas DJD (1972) Identification of nitrous oxide produced by oxidative and reductive processes in Nitrosomonas europaea. Biochem J 126:1181–1191

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowell DL (1981) Oxidation and reduction. In: Greenland DJ, Hayes MHB (eds) The chemistry of soil processes. Wiley, New York, pp 401–462

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryden JC, Lund J, Focht DD (1979) Direct measurement of denitrification loss from soils: I. Laboratory evaluation of acetylene inhibition of nitrous oxide reduction. Soil Sci Soc Am J 43:104–110

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sainz Rozas HR, Echeverría HE, Picone LI (2001) Denitrification in maize under no-tillage: effect of nitrogen rate and application time. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:1314–1323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute Inc (1985) User’s guide: statistics. 5th edn. SAS Institute, Cary, NC

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlegel HG (1992) Allgemeine Mikrobiologie. 7th edn. Thieme, Stuttgart, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas GW (1996) Soil pH and soil acidity. In: Sparks DL (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI, pp 475–490

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiedje JM (1988) Ecology of denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium. In: Zehnder AJB (ed) Biology of anaerobic microorganisms. Wiley, New York, pp 179–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Weier KL, Doran JW, Power JF, Walters DT (1993) Denitrification and the dinitrogen/nitrous oxide ratio as affected by soil water, available carbon, and nitrate. Soil Sci Soc Am J 57:66–72

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xing GX, Zhu ZL (1997) Preliminary studies on N2O emission fluxes from upland soil and paddy soils in China. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 49:17–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xu YC, Shen QR, Li ML, Dittert K, Sattelmacher B (2004) Effect of soil water status and mulching on N2O and CH4 emission from lowland rice field in China. Biol Fertil Soils 39:215–217

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yan X, Du L, Shi S, Xing G (2000) Nitrous oxide emission from wetland rice soil as affected by the application of controlled-availability fertilizers and mid-season aeration. Biol Fertil Soils 32:60–66

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshinari T, Hynes R, Knowles R (1977) Acetylene inhibition of nitrous oxide reduction and measurement of denitrification and nitrogen fixation in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 9:177–183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zumft WG (1997) Cell biology and molecular basis of denitrification. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 61:553–568

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the UBACyT G-038 grant from the Buenos Aires University. Marta Conti and Gerado Rubio are members of the National Council for Scientific Research (CONICET).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cátedra de Edafología, Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (FAUBA), Av. San Martín 4453, Capital Federal, Argentina

    E. Ciarlo & M. Conti

  2. Cátedra de Métodos Cuantitativos Aplicados, FAUBA, Capital Federal, Argentina

    N. Bartoloni

  3. Cátedra de Fertilidad y Uso de Fertilizantes, FAUBA, Capital Federal, Argentina

    G. Rubio

Authors
  1. E. Ciarlo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Conti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. N. Bartoloni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. G. Rubio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Ciarlo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ciarlo, E., Conti, M., Bartoloni, N. et al. The effect of moisture on nitrous oxide emissions from soil and the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio under laboratory conditions. Biol Fertil Soils 43, 675–681 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-006-0147-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-006-0147-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation