Management of Nitrogen Fertilizer to Reduce Nitrous Oxide (N2 O)
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Climate Change and Agriculture Fact Sheet Series—MSU Extension Bulletin E3152 November 2014 MANAGEMENT OF NITROGEN FERTILIZER TO REDUCE NITROUS OXIDE (N2O) EMISSIONS FROM FIELD CROPS Neville Millar1, Julie E. Doll1 and G. Philip Robertson1,2 1W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University 2Dept. of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University Improving the management of nitrogen fertilizer for field crops can improve nitrogen use efficiency (saving farmers money) and reduce nitrous oxide emissions (helping the climate). What is nitrous oxide and why is it important? before its N is available for uptake. When not taken up Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas by plants, most fertilizer N is mobile, hard to contain in that contributes to climate change. Because it has a long the field and susceptible to loss. Nitrogen from fertilizer atmospheric lifetime (over 100 years) and is about 300 can be lost as nitrate to groundwater or as the gases 1 times better at trapping heat than is carbon dioxide , N2O, dinitrogen (N2) or ammonia. Typically only about even small emissions of N2O half of the fertilizer N applied affect the climate. to a crop is taken up by the crop during that growing Nitrous oxide is produced by season4 (Figure 1). microbes in almost all soils. In agriculture, N2O is emitted Nitrogen applied in excess mainly from fertilized soils of crop needs is particularly and animal wastes—wherever susceptible to loss. Though nitrogen (N) is readily available. the amounts of carbon and In the United States, oxygen available in soil also agriculture accounts for affect microbial 2N O approximately 8 percent of Automated greenhouse gas sampling chambers in a wheat field on the production, the presence all greenhouse gas emissions KBS Long-term Ecological Research site. These chambers measure nitrous of inorganic N usually oxide, carbon dioxide and methane emissions multiple times every day but contributes about 75 throughout the year, allowing researchers to accurately estimate matters most. greenhouse gas emissions. Photo: J.E.Doll, Michigan State University. percent of all N2O emissions linked to human activity2. Of How can nitrogen fertilizer the three major greenhouse gases emitted naturally— management decrease nitrous oxide emissions? carbon dioxide, methane and N O—N O is the most Because of the strong link between inorganic N in 2 2 the soil and N O production, some emissions are important in all field crops but rice3. 2 unavoidable. But management that prevents the This fact sheet explains how better management of buildup of inorganic N reduces N2O emissions. N fertilizer can reduce N2O emissions from crop fields. Numerous management strategies can keep soil N in check and minimize N O emissions5. Many of these How does nitrogen fertilizer increase nitrous oxide 2 emissions? strategies also help to keep other forms of N from Farmers add new N to fields either as synthetic fertilizers being lost, including nitrate and ammonia. In general, practices that reduce N O emissions increase N use such as urea or anhydrous ammonia, or as organic 2 fertilizers such as manure. Most synthetic fertilizer N is efficiency (NUE), which keeps more of the added N in readily available for uptake by plants; most of the N in the crop. organic fertilizer must be converted to inorganic N level to which crops respond) by a margin that depends on the price of fertilizer vs. the price of grain11. Typically, using the MRTN approach rather than the older yield-goal approach allows farmers to realize N fertilizer 12 savings. Because both N2O emissions and nitrate leaching13 increase exponentially when N fertilizer exceeds crop N demand, these N savings also can result in substantially lower losses of N2O and nitrate. Better estimating the amount of fertilizer N needed by a crop is an effective way to reduce 2N O emitted from cropped fields. Improving nitrogen fertilizer formulation Fertilizer formulations also can alter N2O emissions in some cropping systems. For example, in corn-soybean rotations, emissions can be two to four times greater following anhydrous ammonia than following urea ammonium nitrate or broadcast urea14. The trend Figure 1: This simplified nitrogen (N) cycle shows the typical fate of 100 pounds of N fertilizer applied to a corn field. The exact amounts vary with soil toward using more urea in corn in the United States type, weather and crop. (Source: Ecologically Based Farming Systems, 20076.) may help reduce N2O emissions. Fertilizer additives can also reduce N O emissions. The four main management factors that help reduce 2 Nitrification inhibitors such as nitrapyrin15, which delay N O emissions from applied N fertilizer are commonly 2 the microbial transformation of soil ammonium to known as the 4R’s: nitrate, can delay the formation of nitrate until closer • Right N application rate; to the time that plants can use it. Likewise, urease • Right formulation (fertilizer type); inhibitors can delay urea fertilizer’s dissolving in soil • Right timing of application; and, water. Slow-release formulations such as polymer • Right placement. coatings can have the same effect. For example, in Matching nitrogen fertilizer application rate to irrigated no-till corn, N2O emissions can be reduced by crop requirement using polymer-coated urea or a combined nitrification Nitrogen availability — the amount of inorganic N in soil at any given time — is the single best predictor 7,8 of N2O fluxes in cropped ecosystems . Michigan State University researchers have shown that N2O emissions are especially high when N fertilizer is applied at rates greater than crop need. The emission rate grows exponentially with increases in fertilizer rate (see Figure 2), so at higher rates of fertilizer application N2O emissions increase disproportionately, particularly after crop N demands are met9. Recent fertilizer recommendations for Michigan corn crops provide farmers an improved capacity to predict crop N needs10. These recommendations are based on dozens of field fertilizer response trials that define the maximum return to N rate (MRTN), which is the rate at which adding any additional N is not repaid by higher Figure 2: Data from Michigan corn fields12 showing how nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions increase exponentially with increasing yields. This rate is typically a bit lower than the fertilizer N rate. By more precisely estimating crop fertilizer N needs, farmers can greatly reduce N O emissions from their fields. agronomically optimum N rate (AONR: the maximum 2 and urease inhibitor with urea ammonium nitrate, How can we best reduce nitrous oxide emissions compared with using either urea or urea ammonium from field crop agriculture? 16 nitrate alone . As yet, however, there have been too An integrated approach is best suited to reduce N2O few field studies to fully judge the benefit of additives emissions from field crop agriculture. The same principles or fertilizer formulations for N2O emissions. of N fertilizer best management practices for increased NUE hold true for reducing emissions: Improving nitrogen fertilizer timing • Apply fertilizer at the economically Applying N fertilizer when it is most needed by plants optimum rate; can also help reduce N O emissions. Applying the 2 • Use an appropriate fertilizer formulation; majority of fertilizer a few weeks after planting rather • Apply as close to the time of crop need than at or before planting increases the likelihood that as possible; and, the N will end up in the crop rather than be lost to • Apply as close to the crop’s root zone groundwater or the atmosphere. Sidedressing N fertilizer as possible. at the V-6 stage in corn, for example, can increase N use efficiency17— especially if application is preceded by a Following these practices will, in general, result in more pre-sidedress-nitrate test (PSNT) to allow residual N to N in the crop and less lost to the environment. These 18 and further potential N O mitigation strategies for be taken into account . 2 croplands are summarized in Table 124. Adding N fertilizer in the fall or spreading manure on frozen fields often leads to especially large nitrate19 and Earning Carbon Credits for Nitrous Oxide N O20 losses. In such cases, fertilizer applications are way Reductions 2 As previously mentioned, even small amounts of N O in out of sync with the timing of crop needs. 2 the atmosphere can greatly affect the climate. Because Improving nitrogen fertilizer placement of this, there is great interest in reducing emissions of Placing N fertilizer close to plant roots also can reduce N2O from various economic sectors, including field crop N2O emissions. For example, applying urea in narrow agriculture. By using the N management practices bands next to the plants rather than broadcasting across described in this bulletin, farmers can reduce N2O the field can reduce 2N O emissions. Likewise, emissions emissions from their fields without reducing crop yield are lower when canola and wheat are side-banded rather or economic return. This is the basis for programs than banded midrow21. In offered through carbon credit corn, shallow rather than deep organizations in the United placement of ammonium States that use the nitrate or anhydrous ammonia marketplace to pay farmers has led to reduced N2O for these reductions. emissions22. Most straightforward and Precision fertilizer application accessible programs use a can also improve NUE by methodology that estimates tailoring N application to soil N2O emissions reductions on spatial variability. Adding less the basis of the reduction of N to those parts of a field Aerial view of the KBS Long-term Ecological Research experiment showing N fertilizer rate. This corn’s response to varying levels of nitrogen fertilizer rates. Data from this with low yield potential, as and other experiments across Michigan showed how nitrogen rates can be methodology is based on measured by yield monitoring, reduced, resulting in lower nitrous oxide emissions without harming crop data collected on commercial will avoid wasting N on yield.