| Literature DB >> 26615911 |
Diana R Selbie1,2,3, Gary J Lanigan1, Ronald J Laughlin4, Hong J Di3, James L Moir3, Keith C Cameron3, Tim J Clough3, Catherine J Watson4, James Grant5, Cathal Somers1, Karl G Richards1.
Abstract
Pasture-based livestock systems are often associated with losses of reactive forms of nitrogen (N) to the environment. Research has focused on losses to air and water due to the health, economic and environmental impacts of reactive N. Di-nitrogen (N2) emissions are still poorly characterized, both in terms of the processes involved and their magnitude, due to financial and methodological constraints. Relatively few studies have focused on quantifying N2 losses in vivo and fewer still have examined the relative contribution of the different N2 emission processes, particularly in grazed pastures. We used a combination of a high (15)N isotopic enrichment of applied N with a high precision of determination of (15)N isotopic enrichment by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry to measure N2 emissions in the field. We report that 55.8 g N m(-2) (95%, CI 38 to 77 g m(-2)) was emitted as N2 by the process of co-denitrification in pastoral soils over 123 days following urine deposition (100 g N m(-2)), compared to only 1.1 g N m(-2) (0.4 to 2.8 g m(-2)) from denitrification. This study provides strong evidence for co-denitrification as a major N2 production pathway, which has significant implications for understanding the N budgets of pastoral ecosystems.Entities:
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2015 PMID: 26615911 PMCID: PMC4663629 DOI: 10.1038/srep17361
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Sci Rep ISSN: 2045-2322 Impact factor: 4.379
Figure 1Conceptual model of co-denitrification under urine patches in grassland soils, commencing with urea, the dominant N substrate found in ruminant urine.
Figure 2Mean daily N2 and N2O fluxes (g N m−2 day−1) (n = 4) from (a) co-denitrification (N2CO), and true denitrification (b) N2TRUE, and (c) N2OTRUE over a four month period following urine deposition. Error bar is the standard error of the mean (n = 4).
Figure 3Cumulative N2 and N2O emissions from co-denitrification (N2CO), and true denitrification (N2TRUE and N2OTRUE) over a four month period following urine deposition.
Confidence intervals (95%) (n = 4) from analysis of the treatments, were 38 to 77 g m-2 for N2CO, 0.4 to 2.8 g m-2 for N2TRUE, and 0.27 to 0.77 g m-2 for N2OTRUE.
Figure 4The effect of the nitrification inhibitor DCD on soil ammonium and nitrate concentrations in urine-affected soil, measured from aligned small plots receiving the same treatments as lysimeters in the main study.
Error bar is the standard error of the mean (n = 4).
Figure 5Effect of the nitrification inhibitor DCD on cumulative N2 emissions from true denitrification (N2TRUE) and co-denitrification (N2CO) (g N m-2) over the first month following urine deposition.
Significant differences between “+DCD” and “−DCD” for each process are marked with *(P < 0.05). Error bar is the standard error of the mean (n = 4).