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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 47(2)

Soil respiration and N2O emission in croplands under different ploughing practices: a case study in south-east China

Shutao Chen A C D and Yao Huang B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.

B Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry (LAPC), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.

C College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.

D Corresponding author. Email: Chenstyf@yahoo.com.cn

Australian Journal of Soil Research 47(2) 198-205 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07225
Submitted: 3 December 2007  Accepted: 23 October 2008   Published: 31 March 2009

Abstract

Studies on the CO2 and N2O emission patterns of agricultural soils under different ploughing practices may provide an insight into the potential and magnitude of CO2 and N2O mitigation in highly managed farmland soils. In this study, field measurements of soil respiration and N2O flux with different ploughing depths were performed in the 2003–04 wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), 2004 maize (Zea mays L.), and 2004–05 wheat seasons. Soil temperature and moisture were simultaneously measured. Results showed that, in each cropping season, the seasonal variation in soil respiration developed with a similar pattern for different treatments, which was primarily regulated by soil temperature. This work demonstrates that ploughing depth can influence long-term loss of carbon from soil, but this was contingent on preceding cropping types. Given the same preceding cropping practice, no significant difference in N2O emission was found among different ploughing depths in each cropping season.

Additional keywords: soil respiration, N2O emission, ploughing practice, soil temperature, soil moisture.


Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 40431001, 40605029). We thank Dawei Zhu, Chuanpo Niu, Zhenhua Lu, Yu Ouyang in Nanjing Agricultural University for their kindly help in gas sample collection. We greatly appreciate suggestions provided by anonymous reviewers, which improved the manuscript considerably.


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