Nitrous oxide emissions from grazed grassland

Oenema, O.; Velthof, G.L.; Yamulki, S.; Jarvis, S. C.

doi:10.1111/j.1475-2743.1997.tb00600.x

Cited by 259 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The input to the soil corresponded to 22 and 43 g N m −2 , which is within the range of 20 to 80 g N m −2 quoted by Oenema et al (1997) as typical for urine patches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term nitrous oxide emissions from pasture soil as influenced by urea level and soil nitrate

Petersen¹,

Stamatiadis²,

Christofides³

2004

Plant Soil

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Nitrogen excreted by cattle during grazing is a significant source of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N 2 O). The regulation of N 2 O emissions is not well understood, but may vary with urine composition and soil conditions. This laboratory study was undertaken to describe short-term effects on N 2 O emissions and soil conditions, including microbial dynamics, of urea amendment at two different rates (22 and 43 g N m −2 ). The lower urea concentration was also combined with an elevated soil NO , pH, electrical conductivity and dissolved organic C were quantified. Microbial dynamics were followed by measurements of CO 2 evolution, by analyses of membrane lipid (PLFA) composition, and by measurement of potential ammonium oxidation and denitrifying enzyme activity. The total recovery of 15 N averaged 84%. Conversion of urea-N to NO − 3 was evident, but nitrification was delayed at the highest urea concentration and was accompanied by an accumulation of NO − 2 . Nitrous oxide emissions were also delayed at the highest urea amendment level, but accelerated towards the end of the study. The pH interacted with NH + 4 to produce inhibitory concentrations of NH 3 (aq) at the highest urea concentration, and there was evidence for transient negative effects of urea amendment on both nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in this treatment. However, PLFA dynamics indicated that initial inhibitory effects were replaced by increased microbial activity and net growth. It is concluded that urea-N level has qualitative, as well as quantitative effects on soil N transformations in urine patches.

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“…The input to the soil corresponded to 22 and 43 g N m −2 , which is within the range of 20 to 80 g N m −2 quoted by Oenema et al (1997) as typical for urine patches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term nitrous oxide emissions from pasture soil as influenced by urea level and soil nitrate

Petersen¹,

Stamatiadis²,

Christofides³

2004

Plant Soil

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“…Both fields were intensively grazed and N inputs through droppings from grazing cattle ranged from 75 to 269 kg ha -1 year -1 (Table 2). Grazing generally increases the N 2 O emissions from grasslands because of additional N inputs (Velthof and Oenema 1995a) and through the formation of hot-spots for N 2 O emission (Oenema et al 1997). Velthof and Oenema (1995a) reported an average 'base' N 2 O emission, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions of N2O from fertilized and grazed grassland on organic soil in relation to groundwater level

Beek

Pleijter

Jacobs

et al. 2009

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Intensively managed grasslands on organic soils are a major source of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) therefore has set the default emission factor at 8 kg N-N 2 O ha -1 year -1 for cultivation and management of organic soils. Also, the Dutch national reporting methodology for greenhouse gases uses a relatively high calculated emission factor of 4.7 kg N-N 2 O ha -1 year -1. In addition to cultivation, the IPCC methodology and the Dutch national methodology account for N 2 O emissions from N inputs through fertilizer applications and animal urine and faeces deposition to estimate annual N 2 O emissions from cultivated and managed organic soils. However, neither approach accounts for other soil parameters that might control N 2 O emissions such as groundwater level. In this paper we report on the relations between N 2 O emissions, N inputs and groundwater level dynamics for a fertilized and grazed grassland on drained peat soil. We measured N 2 O emissions from fields with different target groundwater levels of 40 cm ('wet') and 55 cm ('dry') below soil surface in the years 1992, 1993, 2002, 2006 and 2007. Average emissions equalled 29.5 kg N 2 O-N ha -1 year -1 and 11.6 kg N-N 2 O ha -1 year -1 for the dry and wet conditions, respectively. Especially under dry conditions, measured N 2 O emissions exceeded current official estimates using the IPCC methodology and the Dutch national reporting methodology. The N 2 O-N emissions equalled 8.2 and 3.2% of the total N inputs through fertilizers, manure and cattle droppings for the dry and wet field, respectively and were strongly related to average groundwater level (R 2 = 0.74). We argue that this relation should be explored for other sites and could be used to derive accurate emission data for fertilized and grazed grasslands on organic soils.

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“…The concentration of N excreted in urine is a function of the amount of surplus metabolised N to be excreted, the volume of urine produced and the frequency of urine events (Hoogendoorn et al 2010) and can range from 1 to 18 g N/L (Bristow et al 1992;Oenema et al 1997;Hoogendoorn et al 2010). Urine volume is mainly influenced by water intake and the mineral load ingested by the animal (Selbie et al 2015), and can be high when the moisture content of the diet is high, or when the herbage leaves are wet with rain water or dew (Doak 1952).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the effect of sheep urine patch size and nitrogen loading rate on cumulative N2O emissions

2016

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Abstract. Ruminant urine nitrogen (N) concentration and volume are important parameters influencing the size and N loading rate of urine patches deposited to soil. Such parameters can influence N cycling and emissions of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from grazed grassland, yet, there is limited information on the effect of these parameters within typical ranges reported for sheep. We used an automated, high-frequency gas monitoring system to investigate N 2 O emissions from varying urine N application rates and patch sizes under field conditions. Using artificial sheep urine, we manipulated urine N concentration to provide two urine N application rates (4 and 16 g N/L; equivalent to 200 and 800 kg N/ha). We investigated the effect of urine patch size with equal N application rates (4 · 125 cm 2 vs 500 cm 2 , at 200 and 800 kg N/ha) and the effect of patch size with unequal N application rates, but the same total amount of N applied (62.5 mL over 125 cm 2 at 800 kg N/ha and 250 mL over 500 cm 2 at 200 kg N/ha). Cumulative emissions of N 2 O generally increased with N loading rate, whether applied as one large urine patch or four smaller ones. Cumulative N 2 O emissions increased when the N was applied in four smaller urine patches compared with one large patch; this difference was significant at 800 kg N/ha, but not at 200 kg N/ha. When the total amount of N applied was held constant (1 g of N), the amount of N 2 O released was similar when urine was applied as a high N concentration small patch (800 kg N/ha) compared with a low N concentration large patch (200 kg N/ha). Urine N 2 O emission factors in this study were, on average, 10 times lower than the IPCC default of 1% for sheep excreta. This research clearly demonstrates that the chemical and physical nature of the urine patch influences N 2 O emissions, yet further research is required to gather more data on typical sheep urine volumes (individual and daily), urination frequency, urine N concentrations and the typical volumes of soil influenced by urine deposition, to provide more accurate estimates of emissions from sheep grazed pastures.

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Nitrous oxide emissions from grazed grassland

Cited by 259 publications

References 30 publications

Short-term nitrous oxide emissions from pasture soil as influenced by urea level and soil nitrate

Short-term nitrous oxide emissions from pasture soil as influenced by urea level and soil nitrate

Emissions of N2O from fertilized and grazed grassland on organic soil in relation to groundwater level

Disentangling the effect of sheep urine patch size and nitrogen loading rate on cumulative N2O emissions

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