We reviewed the available data of NO3− and dissolved N2O concentration in leached water in agro‐ecosystems from 11 published papers and four unpublished studies, to reevaluate the IPCC default emission factor (N2O‐N/NO3−‐N) for indirect N2O emission in agro‐ecosystems. The emission factor was estimated to be 0.0024, indicating that the IPCC's present emission factor (0.015) and estimate of indirect N2O emission are too high. Using the estimated value of 0.0024 as the emission factor revises the global indirect N2O emission from N leaching and runoff in agro‐ecosystems downward from 1.6 to 0.80 Tg N y−1 and the sum of direct and indirect global N2O emission due to agriculture from 6.3 to 5.5 Tg N y−1.
The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a basin-scale hydrological and water quality simulation model, has become popular in Asia for assessing the impacts of land use and human activities including paddy rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation which is a typical agricultural management system in Asia. The water ponding and drainage management in paddy fields should significantly affect the regional hydrology and water quality; however, the suitability of SWAT for simulating paddy hydrology at a field scale has not been thoroughly examined.In this study, the water balance of irrigated paddy fields in SWAT was examined for a small watershed where actual daily irrigation data were available. Two approaches available in SWAT to calculate hydrology in a watershed containing paddy fields, the curve number procedure and the pothole module, were applied with the regional paddy rice management standard.The water balance components estimated using the pothole module were significantly different from the actual hydrology in paddy fields. The estimated percolation of water was zero on most days even under ponded water conditions. Any of the percolation, surface runoff and evapotranspiration (ET) was estimated to be zero during the drainage period. The estimated ET was too small on a number of days during the ponding period. As a result, the watershed-scale Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (NSE) for the daily river flow rate at the outlet of the watershed was less than zero, indicating low model efficiency. On the contrary, no significant problems were apparently found in the estimated water balance components in paddy fields using the curve number procedure, yielding a higher NSE value of 0.58 at the watershed scale. However, the curve number procedure that in principle cannot simulate the ponded water conditions is obviously impossible to use to reflect the various paddy water management scenarios in the field.In conclusion, neither of these two approaches is suitable for simulating paddy field hydrology, indicating the need for the development of a paddy module in SWAT.
Zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) are toxic to aquatic organisms at very low concentrations that do not affect humans. We measured the daily output of Zn and Cu in wastewater from livestock farms to aquatic environments because waste from animal husbandry operations contains high levels of Zn and Cu. At most pig farms in Japan, a mixture of urine, some faeces, and service water is treated in onsite wastewater treatment facilities and discharged into a water body. Some dairy farms also have wastewater treatment facilities. We surveyed 21 pig farms and six dairy farms. The unit (i.e., per head) output load from piggery wastewater treatment facilities ranged from 0.13 to 17.8 mg/head/d for Zn and from 0.15 to 9.4 mg/head/d for Cu. Over 70% of pig farms had unit output loads of Zn and Cu below 6 and 2 mg/head/d, respectively. For dairy farms, the unit output load from wastewater treatment facilities was estimated at 1.8-3.6 mg/head/d for Zn and 0.6 mg/head/d for Cu. The unit output load for Zn from piggery wastewater treatment facilities was similar to that from treatment facilities for human waste. However, pig farms generally raise several thousand to tens of thousands of pigs; pig farms are therefore presumed to be a significant point source of Zn in rural areas.
Suppressive effects of soil amendment with residues of 12 cultivars of Brassica rapa on damping-off of sugar beet were evaluated in soils infested with Rhizoctonia solani. Residues of clover and peanut were tested as noncruciferous controls. The incidence of damping-off was significantly and consistently suppressed in the soils amended with residues of clover, peanut, and B. rapa subsp. rapifera 'Saori', but only the volatile substance produced from water-imbibed residue of cv. Saori exhibited a distinct inhibitory effect on mycelial growth of R. solani. Nonetheless, disease suppression in such residue-amended soils was diminished or nullified when antibacterial antibiotics were applied to the soils, suggesting that proliferation of antagonistic bacteria resident to the soils were responsible for disease suppression. When the seed (pericarps) colonized by R. solani in the infested soil without residues were replanted into the soils amended with such residues, damping-off was suppressed in all cases. In contrast, when seed that had been colonized by microorganisms in the soils containing the residues were replanted into the infested soil, damping-off was not suppressed. The evidence indicates that the laimosphere, but not the spermosphere, is the site for the antagonistic microbial interaction, which is the chief principle of soil suppressiveness against Rhizoctonia damping-off.
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