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Li L, Hong M, Zhang Y, Paustian K. Soil N 2 O emissions from specialty crop systems: A global estimation and meta-analysis. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17233. [PMID: 38469991 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Revised: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
Nitrous oxide (N2 O) exacerbates the greenhouse effect and thus global warming. Agricultural management practices, especially the use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers and irrigation, increase soil N2 O emissions. As a vital sector of global agriculture, specialty crop systems usually require intensive input and management. However, soil N2 O emissions from global specialty crop systems have not been comprehensively evaluated. Here, we synthesized 1137 observations from 114 published studies, conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of agricultural management and environmental factors on soil N2 O emissions, and estimated global soil N2 O emissions from specialty crop systems. The estimated global N2 O emission from specialty crop soils was 1.5 Tg N2 O-N year-1 , ranging from 0.5 to 4.5 Tg N2 O-N year-1 . Globally, soil N2 O emissions exponentially increased with N fertilizer rates. The effect size of N fertilizer on soil N2 O emissions generally increased with mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and soil organic carbon concentration but decreased with soil pH. Global climate change will further intensify the effect of N fertilizer on soil N2 O emissions. Drip irrigation, fertigation, and reduced tillage can be used as essential strategies to reduce soil N2 O emissions and increase crop yields. Deficit irrigation and non-legume cover crop can reduce soil N2 O emissions but may also lower crop yields. Biochar may have a relatively limited effect on reducing soil N2 O emissions but be effective in increasing crop yields. Our study points toward effective management strategies that have substantial potential for reducing N2 O emissions from global agricultural soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidong Li
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
| | - Mu Hong
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
| | - Yao Zhang
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
| | - Keith Paustian
- Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
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Lewin S, Wende S, Wehrhan M, Verch G, Ganugi P, Sommer M, Kolb S. Cereals rhizosphere microbiome undergoes host selection of nitrogen cycle guilds correlated to crop productivity. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 911:168794. [PMID: 38000749 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023]
Abstract
Sustainable transformation of agricultural plant production requires the reduction of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application. Such a reduced N fertilizer application may impede crop production due to an altered symbiosis of crops and their rhizosphere microbiome, since reduced N input may affect the competition and synergisms with the plant. The assessment of such changes in the crop microbiome functionalities at spatial scales relevant for agricultural management remains challenging. We investigated in a field plot experiment how and if the N cycling guilds of the rhizosphere of globally relevant cereal crops - winter barley, wheat and rye - are influenced by reduced N fertilization. Crop productivity was assessed by remote sensing of the shoot biomass. Microbial N cycling guilds were investigated by metagenomics targeting diazotrophs, nitrifiers, denitrifiers and the dissimilatory nitrate to ammonium reducing guild (DNRA). The functional composition of microbial N cycling guilds was explained by crop productivity parameters and soil pH, and diverged substantially between the crop species. The responses of individual microbial N cycling guild abundances to shoot dry weight and rhizosphere nitrate content was modulated by the N fertilization treatments and the crop species, which was identified based on regression analyses. Thus, characteristic shifts in the microbial N cycling guild acquisition associated with the crop host species were resolved. Particularly, the rhizosphere of rye was enriched with potentially N-preserving microbial guilds - diazotrophs and the DNRA guild - when no fertilizer was applied. We speculate that the acquisition of microbial N cycling guilds was the result of plant species-specific acquisition strategies. Thus, the investigated cereal crop holobionts have likely different symbiotic strategies that make them differently resilient against reduced N fertilizer inputs. Furthermore, we demonstrated that these belowground patterns of N cycling guilds from the rhizosphere microbiome are linked to remotely sensed aboveground plant productivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Lewin
- Working Group Microbial Biogeochemistry, Research Area Landscape Functioning, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Sonja Wende
- Working Group Microbial Biogeochemistry, Research Area Landscape Functioning, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Marc Wehrhan
- Working Group Landscape Pedology, Research Area Landscape Functioning, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Gernot Verch
- Experimental Station Dedelow, Experimental Infrastructure Platform, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Paola Ganugi
- Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food sciences, University of Turin, Grugliasco, Italy
| | - Michael Sommer
- Working Group Landscape Pedology, Research Area Landscape Functioning, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany; Institute of Environmental Science & Geography, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Steffen Kolb
- Working Group Microbial Biogeochemistry, Research Area Landscape Functioning, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research e.V. (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany; Thaer Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
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Wei H, Song X, Liu Y, Wang R, Zheng X, Butterbach-Bahl K, Venterea RT, Wu D, Ju X. In situ 15 N-N 2 O site preference and O 2 concentration dynamics disclose the complexity of N 2 O production processes in agricultural soil. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:4910-4923. [PMID: 37183810 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Arable soil continues to be the dominant anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions owing to application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers and manures across the world. Using laboratory and in situ studies to elucidate the key factors controlling soil N2 O emissions remains challenging due to the potential importance of multiple complex processes. We examined soil surface N2 O fluxes in an arable soil, combined with in situ high-frequency measurements of soil matrix oxygen (O2 ) and N2 O concentrations, in situ 15 N labeling, and N2 O 15 N site preference (SP). The in situ O2 concentration and further microcosm visualized spatiotemporal distribution of O2 both suggested that O2 dynamics were the proximal determining factor to matrix N2 O concentration and fluxes due to quick O2 depletion after N fertilization. Further SP analysis and in situ 15 N labeling experiment revealed that the main source for N2 O emissions was bacterial denitrification during the hot-wet summer with lower soil O2 concentration, while nitrification or fungal denitrification contributed about 50.0% to total emissions during the cold-dry winter with higher soil O2 concentration. The robust positive correlation between O2 concentration and SP values underpinned that the O2 dynamics were the key factor to differentiate the composite processes of N2 O production in in situ structured soil. Our findings deciphered the complexity of N2 O production processes in real field conditions, and suggest that O2 dynamics rather than stimulation of functional gene abundances play a key role in controlling soil N2 O production processes in undisturbed structure soils. Our results help to develop targeted N2 O mitigation measures and to improve process models for constraining global N2 O budget.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huanhuan Wei
- College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaotong Song
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China
| | - Rui Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xunhua Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Klaus Butterbach-Bahl
- Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
- Pioneer Center Land-CRAFT, Agroecology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Rodney T Venterea
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil and Water Management Research Unit, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Di Wu
- College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaotang Ju
- College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Haikou, China
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Kaushal R, Hsueh YH, Chen CL, Lan YP, Wu PY, Chen YC, Liang MC. Isotopic assessment of soil N 2O emission from a sub-tropical agricultural soil under varying N-inputs. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 827:154311. [PMID: 35257756 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2021] [Revised: 02/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Nitrogen fertilizers result in high crop productivity but also enhance the emission of N2O, an environmentally harmful greenhouse gas. Only approximately a half of the applied nitrogen is utilized by crops and the rest is either vaporized, leached, or lost as NO, N2O and N2 via soil microbial activity. Thus, improving the nitrogen use efficiency of cropping systems has become a global concern. Factors such as types and rates of fertilizer application, soil texture, moisture level, pH, and microbial activity/diversity play important roles in N2O production. Here, we report the results of N2O production from a set of chamber experiments on an acidic sandy-loam agricultural soil under varying levels of an inorganic N-fertilizer, urea. Stable isotope technique was employed to determine the effect of increasing N-fertilizer levels on N2O emissions and identify the microbial processes involved in fertilizer N-transformation that give rise to N2O. We monitored the isotopic changes in both substrate (ammonium and nitrate) and the product N2O during the entire course of the incubation experiments. Peak N2O emissions of 122 ± 98 μg N2O-N m-2 h-1, 338 ± 49 μg N2O-N m-2 h-1 and 739 ± 296 μg N2O-N m-2 h-1 were observed for urea application rate of 40, 80, and 120 μg N g-1. The duration of emissions also increased with urea levels. The concentration and isotopic compositions of the substrates and product showed time-bound variation. Combining the observations of isotopic effects in δ15N, δ18O, and 15N site preference, we inferred co-occurrence of several microbial N2O production pathways with nitrification and/or fungal denitrification as the dominant processes responsible for N2O emissions. Besides this, dominant signatures of bacterial denitrification were observed in a second N2O emission pulse in intermediate urea-N levels. Signature of N2O consumption by reduction could be traced during declining emissions in treatment with high urea level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ritika Kaushal
- Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Hsin Hsueh
- Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Taiwan International Graduate Program-Earth Systems Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chi-Ling Chen
- Agricultural Chemistry Division, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Ping Lan
- Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ping-Yu Wu
- Agricultural Chemistry Division, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Chun Chen
- Agricultural Chemistry Division, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Mao-Chang Liang
- Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
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