Nitrous Oxide Emission of a Tropical Peat Soil Grown with Pineapple at Saratok, Malaysia

Abstract

Draining of peatland for agriculture could affect the release of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Presently, there is dearth of information on soil nitrous oxide emission from tropical peat soils cultivated with pineapples. Lysimeter and closed chamber methods were used to quantify nitrous oxide emission from root respiration, microbial respiration, and oxidative peat decomposition under controlled water table condition. Treatments evaluated were: peat soil grown with pineapple, uncultivated peat soils, and bare peat soil fumigated with chloroform. Cultivation of Moris pineapple on drained peat soils resulted in the higher release of nitrous oxide emission (15.7 t N 2 O ha/yr), followed by fumigated peat soil with chloroform (14.3 t N 2 O ha/yr), and uncultivated peat soil (10.2 t N 2 O ha/yr). Soil nitrous oxide emission was affected by nitrate fertilization but emission was not affected by soil temperature nor soil moisture.

Pineapple Residue Ash Reduces Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Pineapple Cultivation on Tropical Peat Soils at Saratok, Malaysia

“…Unlike the oil palm industry, where extensive studies had been carried out to measure greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations on peat [11][12][13], less attention has been focused on drained peatlands under pineapples cultivation. Pineapples cultivation on peat soils in Malaysia was reported to release approximately 179.6 t CO 2 ha −1 yr −1 [14] and 15.7 t N 2 O ha −1 yr −1 [15]. While efforts had been carried out to quantify CO 2 and N 2 O emissions from tropical peat soils cultivated with pineapple [16][17][18][19], the effects of pineapple residue ash on CO 2 and N 2 O emissions from drained peat soils are yet to be determined in field and laboratory experiments.…”