Quantifying annual N2O emission fluxes from grazed grassland under a range of inorganic fertiliser nitrogen inputs

Cardenas, L. M.; Thorman, R. E.; Ashlee, N.; Butler, M. R.; Chadwick, D. R.; Chambers, B. J.; Cuttle, S. P.; Donovan, N.; Kingston, H. M.; Lane, Simon I. R.; Dhanoa, M. S.; Scholefield, D.

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2009.12.006

Cited by 119 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…It has also been found that soil N 2 O emissions may increase exponentially with N additions from chemical fertilizer (McSwiney & Robertson, 2005;Cardenas et al, 2010) and also total N application from slurry, fertilizer and excretion (Rafique et al, 2011). This pattern may be caused by a reduction in the capacity of the crop to take up N at high application rates (McSwiney & Robertson, 2005).…”

Section: Hemp Experiments 2008mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen fertilization to optimize the greenhouse gas balance of hemp crops grown for biomass

Finnan

Burke

2013

GCB Bioenergy

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Nitrogen trials were carried out on hemp crops grown in Ireland over a 3 year period to identify nitrogen fertilization strategies which optimize the greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy balances of hemp crops grown for biomass. Nitrogen rates up to 150 kg N ha À1 were used in the study. Yield increased with nitrogen rate up to 120 kg N ha À1 for early (Ferimon), mid (Felina 32) and late maturing (Futura 75) varieties. Variety had a significant effect on yield with yields increasing with maturation date. In 2 years of the study, certain application rates of nitrogen were applied either at sowing, at emergence, after emergence or split between these dates to determine if nitrogen rates could be reduced by delaying or splitting the applications. The application of nitrogen at times later than sowing or in splits during the early part of the growing season had no significant effect on biomass yield compared with the practice of applying nitrogen at the time of sowing. Late applications of nitrogen reduced leaf chlorophyll content and height early in the growing season. Later in the growing season, there was no difference in height between treatments although the highest concentrations of chlorophyll were found in the leaves of the late application treatment. Nitrogen rate and the timing of nitrogen application had no effect on plant density. Biomass yield, net energy and net GHG mitigation increased up to an application rate of 120 kg N ha À1 , this result was independent of soil type or soil nitrogen level. Net GHG and energy balance of hemp crops grown for biomass are optimized if late maturing varieties are used for biomass production and a nitrogen rate of 120 kg ha À1 is applied at sowing.

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Section: Hemp Experiments 2008mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen fertilization to optimize the greenhouse gas balance of hemp crops grown for biomass

Finnan

Burke

2013

GCB Bioenergy

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“…Under optimal conditions, fertilizer application stimulates a rapid rise in N 2 O emissions, which usually only lasts for one to three weeks [21] (figure 3). However, in addition to fertilizer rate, which is the only factor accounted for by the Tier 1 emission inventory, the onset, magnitude and length of fertilizer-induced emissions depend on rainfall, particularly the timing of fertilizer application in relation to rainfall and temperature, soil type, organic matter content in mineral soils, drainage and fertilizer type [16,22,23]. Consequently, N 2 O emissions show large seasonal and interannual variations [6,24].…”

Section: Biological Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Collectively, the three emission events were responsible for 52 per cent of the total annual emission (7.5% (14 -30 March) þ 16.3% (16 - The IPCC Tier 1 emission factor approach assumes a linear relationship between N fertilizer application rate and emissions, but there is good evidence to suggest that this is not the case, with emissions rising more steeply beyond optimum fertilizer application rates [22,27,28]. A better understanding of this relationship will allow us to determine the difference between the currently applied economic optimum fertilizer rate and environmentally optimum rates.…”

Section: Biological Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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UK emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide

Skiba

Jones

Dragosits

et al. 2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Signatories of the Kyoto Protocol are obliged to submit annual accounts of their anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which include nitrous oxide (N 2 O). Emissions from the sectors industry (3.8 Gg), energy (14.4 Gg), agriculture (86.8 Gg), wastewater (4.4 Gg), land use, land-use change and forestry (2.1 Gg) can be calculated by multiplying activity data (i.e. amount of fertilizer applied, animal numbers) with simple emission factors (Tier 1 approach), which are generally applied across wide geographical regions. The agricultural sector is the largest anthropogenic source of N 2 O in many countries and responsible for 75 per cent of UK N 2 O emissions. Microbial N 2 O production in nitrogen-fertilized soils (27.6 Gg), nitrogen-enriched waters (24.2 Gg) and manure storage systems (6.4 Gg) dominate agricultural emission budgets. For the agricultural sector, the Tier 1 emission factor approach is too simplistic to reflect local variations in climate, ecosystems and management, and is unable to take into account some of the mitigation strategies applied. This paper reviews deviations of observed emissions from those calculated using the simple emission factor approach for all anthropogenic sectors, briefly discusses the need to adopt specific emission factors that reflect regional variability in climate, soil type and management, and explains how bottom-up emission inventories can be verified by top-down modelling.

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“…Smith et al (2012 give some evidence that direct N 2 O emissions are less from urea fertiliser applications than from other fertiliser types, but indirect emissions associated with the greater NH 3 emissions from urea would have been greater, so on balance there was no overall difference between fertiliser types. Emissions of N 2 O may increase disproportionately with fertiliser application rate, as shown for fertiliser applications to grassland at three sites in England by Cardenas et al (2010) where the annual emission factor (proportion of total fertiliser N applied during the year lost as N 2 O) was greater for higher cumulative annual application rates.The use of forage legumes, such as clover in grass leys, offers the potential to offset applied inorganic N with biologically fixed N. Perceived disadvantages with the use of white clover are year to year variation in sward content and persistence (Frame et al 1986). With greatly increasing fertiliser prices in recent years, there is a growing resurgence of interest in forage legumes, and a combination of improved traits through breeding and improved management practices may overcome some of these main perceived disadvantages (Parsons et al 2011).…”

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Opportunities for reducing environmental emissions from forage-based dairy farms

Misselbrook¹,

Prado²,

Chadwick³

2013

AFSci

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Modern dairy production is inevitably associated with impacts to the environment and the challenge for the industry today is to increase production to meet growing global demand while minimising emissions to the environment. Negative environmental impacts include gaseous emissions to the atmosphere, of ammonia from livestock manure and fertiliser use, of methane from enteric fermentation and manure management, and of nitrous oxide from nitrogen applications to soils and from manure management. Emissions to water include nitrate, ammonium, phosphorus, sediment, pathogens and organic matter, deriving from nutrient applications to forage crops and/or the management of grazing livestock. This paper reviews the sources and impacts of such emissions in the context of a forage-based dairy farm and considers a number of potential mitigation strategies, giving some examples using the farm-scale model SIMS DAIRY . Most of the mitigation measures discussed are associated with systemic improvements in the efficiency of production in dairy systems. Important examples of mitigations include: improvements to dairy herd fertility, that can reduce methane and ammonia emissions by up to 24 and 17%, respectively; diet modification such as the use of high sugar grasses for grazing, which are associated with reductions in cattle N excretion of up to 20% (and therefore lower N losses to the environment) and potentially lower methane emissions, or reducing the crude protein content of the dairy cow diet through use of maize silage to reduce N excretion and methane emissions; the use of nitrification inhibitors with fertiliser and slurry applications to reduce nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching by up to 50%. Much can also be achieved through attention to the quantity, timing and method of application of nutrients to forage crops and utilising advances made through genetic improvements.Key words: ammonia, diffuse water pollution, farm-scale model, greenhouse gas, mitigation IntroductionThe dairy sector, in common with other agricultural sectors, currently faces a great challenge to meet rising global food demands, particularly for livestock-derived food products, in a sustainable way (Godfray et al. 2010). There are important interactions between food production and other ecosystem services, including climate regulation, air and water quality, nutrient cycling, soil erosion, biodiversity and landscape quality, as discussed by Pilgrim et al. (2010) for temperate grassland systems, and the sustainable intensification of production relies on a good understanding of these interactions and our ability to identify potential 'win-win' strategies.The assessment of such interactions for given management or mitigation scenarios on forage-based dairy farms was the primary aim of the development of the farm-scale SIMS DAIRY model (del Prado et al. 2011). SIMS DAIRY integrates all of the major components of a dairy farm into a modelling framework using a system-based approach. It consists of modules dealing with overall farm management, he...

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Quantifying annual N2O emission fluxes from grazed grassland under a range of inorganic fertiliser nitrogen inputs

Cited by 119 publications

References 26 publications

Nitrogen fertilization to optimize the greenhouse gas balance of hemp crops grown for biomass

Nitrogen fertilization to optimize the greenhouse gas balance of hemp crops grown for biomass

UK emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide

Opportunities for reducing environmental emissions from forage-based dairy farms

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