Nitrous oxide emissions from applied nitrate fertiliser in commercial cherry orchards
P. Quin
A C , N. Swarts A , G. Oliver A , S. Paterson A , J. Friedl B and D. Rowlings B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus 7005, Tas., Australia.
B Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Qld, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: peter.quin@utas.edu.au
Soil Research 59(1) 60-67 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR19333
Submitted: 17 November 2019 Accepted: 22 July 2020 Published: 8 October 2020
Abstract
The application of nitrate (NO3–) fertiliser is important worldwide in providing nitrogen (N) nutrition to perennial fruit trees. There is little information available on N losses to the environment from commercial cherry orchards, in relation to different timings of NO3– application. The emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) gas is an important greenhouse gas loss from NO3– application, being responsible for 6% of anthropogenic global warming and a catalyst for depletion of stratospheric ozone. In a commercial sweet-cherry orchard in southern Tasmania, we applied 373 g NO3–-N m–2 (equivalent to 90 kg NO3–-N ha–1) either pre- or post-harvest, or equally split between the two, to study the resultant N2O emissions. Emissions averaged 8.37 mg N2O-N m–2 day–1 during the pre-harvest period, primarily driven by a heavy rainfall event, and were significantly greater (P < 0.05) than the average 4.88 × 10–1 mg N2O-N m–2 day–1 from post-harvest NO3– application. Discounting the emissions related to the rainfall event, the resultant average 1.88 mg N2O-N m–2 day–1 for the rest of the pre-harvest emissions remained significantly greater (P < 0.05) than those post-harvest. Ongoing studies will help to build on these results and efforts to minimise N2O emissions in perennial tree cropping systems.
Additional keywords: 15N, application timing, nitrate fertiliser, nitrous oxide emissions, soil moisture, sweet cherry.
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