Effects of the nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin and mulch on N2O emission and fertilizer use efficiency using 15N tracing techniques

Khadim Dawar; Aamir Khan; Kamil Sardar; Shah Fahad; Shah Saud; Rahul Datta; Subhan Danish

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143739

Effects of the nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin and mulch on N₂O emission and fertilizer use efficiency using ¹⁵N tracing techniques

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Feb 25:757:143739. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143739. Epub 2020 Nov 16.

Authors

Khadim Dawar¹, Aamir Khan², Kamil Sardar², Shah Fahad³, Shah Saud⁴, Rahul Datta⁵, Subhan Danish⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Soil and Environmental Science, the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan. Electronic address: khadimdawar@yahoo.com.
² Department of Soil and Environmental Science, the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan.
³ Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresource, College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China; Department of Agronomy, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 22620, Pakistan. Electronic address: shahfahad@uoswabi.edu.pk.
⁴ Department of Horticulture, Northeast Agriculture University, Harbin, China.
⁵ Department of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic.
⁶ Department of Soil Science, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800, Punjab, Pakistan.

PMID: 33229088
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143739

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N₂O), is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) that shares 7% of global warming around the world. Among different sources, agricultural systems account for approx. 60% of global anthropogenic N₂O emissions. These N₂O emissions are associated with the activity of nitrifiers and denitrifiers that contribute to >4 Tg (teragrams) N₂O-N emission per year. Application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers and manures in agricultural fields plays an imperative role in this regard. On the other hand nitrification inhibitors are an effective approach to minimize N₂O-N emissions from agricultural fields. Here we examined the effects of applying urea with a nitrification inhibitor (Ni) nitrapyrin and mulch (Mu) on urea transformation, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, grain yield and nitrogen (N) uptake efficiency. The treatments include a control (zero N), urea (U) applied at 200 kg N ha^-1, U + Ni (Ni applied at 700 g ha^-1), U+ Mu (Mu applied at 4 t ha^-1) and U + Ni + Mu. The N₂O emission factor (EF) was 66% and 75% when U and Mu were applied, respectively. Yield-scaled N₂O emissions were lower in U and Mu by 45% and 55%, respectively. The Ni coupled with Mu enhanced urea-¹⁵N recovery by 58% and wheat grain yield by 23% and total N uptake by 30% compared with U alone. In conclusion, Ni usage is an effective strategy to mitigate N₂O emissions under field conditions.

Keywords: (15)N recovery; Mulch; Nitrification inhibitor; Nitrous oxide emission; Urea; Wheat crop.