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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 62(1)

Revised emission factors for estimating direct nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen inputs in Australia’s agricultural production systems: a meta-analysis

Peter Grace https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4136-4129 A * , Daniele De Rosa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0441-7722 A B , Iurii Shcherbak A , Alice Strazzabosco https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6667-5188 A , David Rowlings https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1618-9309 A , Clemens Scheer https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5396-2076 A , Louise Barton https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7187-4168 C , Weijin Wang D , Graeme Schwenke https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2206-4350 E , Roger Armstrong https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4728-9935 F , Ian Porter G and Michael Bell H
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.

B European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, VA 21027, Italy.

C University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

D Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Dutton Park, Qld 4102, Australia.

E New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Calala, NSW 2340, Australia.

F Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Horsham, Vic. 3400, Australia.

G Latrobe University, 5 Rings Road, Bundorra, Vic. 3086, Australia.

H University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.

* Correspondence to: pr.grace@qut.edu.au

Handling Editor: Iris Vogeler

Soil Research 62, SR23070 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR23070
Submitted: 20 April 2023  Accepted: 27 October 2023  Published: 27 November 2023

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Agricultural soils are a major source of emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O).

Aim

Quantify direct N2O emissions from Australian agricultural production systems receiving nitrogen (N) inputs from synthetic and organic fertilisers, crop residues, urine and dung.

Method

A meta-analysis of N2O emissions from Australian agriculture (2003–2021) identified 394 valid emission factors (EFs), including 102 EFs with enhanced efficiency fertilisers (EEFs).

Key results

The average EF from all N sources (excluding EEFs) was 0.57%. Industry-based EFs for synthetic N fertiliser (excluding EEFs) ranged from 0.17% (non-irrigated pasture) to 1.77% (sugar cane), with an average Australia-wide EF of 0.70%. Emission factors were independent of topsoil organic carbon content, bulk density and pH. The revised EF for the non-irrigated cropping (grains) industry is now 0.41%; however, geographically-defined EFs are recommended. Urea was the most common N source with an average EF of 0.72% compared to urine (0.20%), dung (0.06%) and organo-mineral mixtures (0.26%). The EF for synthetic N fertilisers in rainfed environments increased by 0.16% for every 100 mm over 300 mm mean annual rainfall. For each additional 50 kg N ha−1 of synthetic fertiliser, EFs increased by 0.13%, 0.31% and 0.38% for the horticulture, irrigated and high rainfall non-irrigated cropping industries, respectively. The use of 3,4 dimethylpyrazole-phosphate (DMPP) produced significant reductions in EFs of 55%, 80% and 84% for the horticulture, non-irrigated and irrigated cropping industries, respectively.

Conclusions and implications

Incorporation of the revised EFs into the 2020 National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) produced a 12% increase in direct N2O emissions from the application of synthetic N fertilisers. The lack of country-specific crop residue decomposition data is a major deficiency in the NGA.

Keywords: DMPP, emission factors, inventory, meta-analysis, nitrification inhibitors, nitrogen fertiliser, nitrous oxide.

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