Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis
In order to quantify the reduction potential for nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) release from arable soils through the removal of crop residues, we conducted an experiment after sugar beet (<i>Beta vulgaris</i> L.) harvest with three treatments: (i) ploughing of the crop resid...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Agriculture |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/11/546 |
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| author | Lisa Essich Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe Moritz Schneider Reiner Ruser |
| author_facet | Lisa Essich Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe Moritz Schneider Reiner Ruser |
| author_sort | Lisa Essich |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In order to quantify the reduction potential for nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) release from arable soils through the removal of crop residues, we conducted an experiment after sugar beet (<i>Beta vulgaris</i> L.) harvest with three treatments: (i) ploughing of the crop residues (+CR:D), (ii) returning residues after ploughing on the surface (+CR:S), and (iii) removal of the residues and ploughing (−CR). N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes were measured over 120 days in south Germany. High positive correlations between N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes and the CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes and soil nitrate contents suggested denitrification as the main N<sub>2</sub>O source. N<sub>2</sub>O emissions in +CR:D was higher than in +CR:S (2.39 versus 0.93 kg N<sub>2</sub>O−N ha<sup>−1</sup> 120 d<sup>−1</sup> in +CR:D and +CR:S). Residue removal in −CR reduced the N<sub>2</sub>O emission compared to +CR:D by 95% and to +CR:S by 87%. We further conducted a meta-analysis on the effect of crop residue removal on N<sub>2</sub>O emissions, where we included 176 datasets from arable soils with mainly rain fed crops. The overall effect of residue removal showed a N<sub>2</sub>O reduction of 11%. The highest N<sub>2</sub>O reduction of 76% was calculated for the removal subgroup with C/N-ratio < 25. Neither the remaining C/N-ratio subgroups nor the grouping variables “tillage” or “residue quantity” differed within their subgroup. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:51:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7896a9e809c04d4c9f2fcfc9fcb22c08 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0472 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:51:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj.art-7896a9e809c04d4c9f2fcfc9fcb22c082023-11-20T20:53:48ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722020-11-01101154610.3390/agriculture10110546Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-AnalysisLisa Essich0Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe1Moritz Schneider2Reiner Ruser3Department Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyIn order to quantify the reduction potential for nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) release from arable soils through the removal of crop residues, we conducted an experiment after sugar beet (<i>Beta vulgaris</i> L.) harvest with three treatments: (i) ploughing of the crop residues (+CR:D), (ii) returning residues after ploughing on the surface (+CR:S), and (iii) removal of the residues and ploughing (−CR). N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes were measured over 120 days in south Germany. High positive correlations between N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes and the CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes and soil nitrate contents suggested denitrification as the main N<sub>2</sub>O source. N<sub>2</sub>O emissions in +CR:D was higher than in +CR:S (2.39 versus 0.93 kg N<sub>2</sub>O−N ha<sup>−1</sup> 120 d<sup>−1</sup> in +CR:D and +CR:S). Residue removal in −CR reduced the N<sub>2</sub>O emission compared to +CR:D by 95% and to +CR:S by 87%. We further conducted a meta-analysis on the effect of crop residue removal on N<sub>2</sub>O emissions, where we included 176 datasets from arable soils with mainly rain fed crops. The overall effect of residue removal showed a N<sub>2</sub>O reduction of 11%. The highest N<sub>2</sub>O reduction of 76% was calculated for the removal subgroup with C/N-ratio < 25. Neither the remaining C/N-ratio subgroups nor the grouping variables “tillage” or “residue quantity” differed within their subgroup.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/11/546crop residuesN<sub>2</sub>O emissionsC/N ratiocrop removalsugar beet residuesmeta-analysis |
| spellingShingle | Lisa Essich Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe Moritz Schneider Reiner Ruser Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis Agriculture crop residues N<sub>2</sub>O emissions C/N ratio crop removal sugar beet residues meta-analysis |
| title | Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis |
| title_full | Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis |
| title_short | Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N<sub>2</sub>O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis |
| title_sort | is crop residue removal to reduce n sub 2 sub o emissions driven by quality or quantity a field study and meta analysis |
| topic | crop residues N<sub>2</sub>O emissions C/N ratio crop removal sugar beet residues meta-analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/11/546 |
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