Emission factors for estimating fertiliser-induced nitrous oxide emissions from clay soils in Australia’s irrigated cotton industry
Peter Grace A C , Iurii Shcherbak A , Ben Macdonald B , Clemens Scheer A and David Rowlings A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Institute for Future Environments and Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George St., Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.
B CSIRO Agriculture Flagship, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: pr.grace@qut.edu.au
Soil Research 54(5) 598-603 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR16091
Submitted: 7 April 2016 Accepted: 2 May 2016 Published: 25 July 2016
Journal Compilation © CSIRO Publishing 2016 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
As a significant user of nitrogen (N) fertilisers, the Australian cotton industry is a major source of soil-derived nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. A country-specific (Tier 2) fertiliser-induced emission factor (EF) can be used in national greenhouse gas inventories or in the development of N2O emissions offset methodologies provided the EFs are evidence based. A meta-analysis was performed using eight individual N2O emission studies from Australian cotton studies to estimate EFs. Annual N2O emissions from cotton grown on Vertosols ranged from 0.59 kg N ha–1 in a 0N control to 1.94 kg N ha–1 in a treatment receiving 270 kg N ha–1. Seasonal N2O estimates ranged from 0.51 kg N ha–1 in a 0N control to 10.64 kg N ha–1 in response to the addition of 320 kg N ha–1. A two-component (linear + exponential) statistical model, namely EF (%) = 0.29 + 0.007(e0.037N – 1)/N, capped at 300 kg N ha–1 describes the N2O emissions from lower N rates better than an exponential model and aligns with an EF of 0.55% using a traditional linear regression model.
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