Attenuation of N2O emission rates from agricultural soil at different dicyandiamide concentrations.

An experiment was conducted to assess the role of different concentrations of dicyandiamide (DCD), a potent nitrification inhibitor, on temporal changes in nitrous oxide emission from sandy loam agricultural soil. It was found that with increasing concentration of DCD i.e. from 6 to 12% of nitrogen applied in the form of urea, there was a decrease in the both average and peak N(2)O emissions. However, from 14% DCD treated soil, there was a non-significant alteration in the N(2)O emission. Maximum average N(2)O efflux of 217.55 microg m(-2) h(-1) was noted from control plots. As compared to control, there was an attenuation of 50, 58, 65, and 91% average N(2)O efflux from 6, 8, 10 and 12% DCD applied pots, respectively, whereas, there was a negative average of N(2)O efflux from the soil with 14% DCD treatment. The soil N content also showed a significant correlation with N(2)O emission. Therefore, 12% DCD treatment has been found to be the best with regard to attenuation of nitrous oxide from sandy loam agricultural soils.