Nitrous and nitric oxide emissions from a cornfield and managed grassland: 11 years of continuous measurement with manure and fertilizer applications, and land-use change

Figures & data

Table 1. Timing and kind of field management activities.

Land use	Management activity	Time
Old grassland (OG)	Manure application	May
	Fertilizer application	May and June/July
	Harvesting	June and August
Cornfield	Tillage	October/November (plowing), May (harrowing and planting)
	Manure application	October/November
	Fertilizer application	May
	Harvesting	September/October
New grassland (NG)	Tillage	May 2013 (harrowing and planting), September 2013 (herbicide application, plowing and re-planting)
	Manure application	October 2012, September 2013 and May 2015
	Fertilizer application	May 2013, May and July in 2014 and 2015
	Harvesting	September 2013, June and August 2014 and 2015

Table 2. Manure and chemical fertilizer nitrogen (N) application rates from 2005 to 2015.

			F	MF	M
Land use	Year	Type	kg N ha^−1
OG	2005	Manure N	0	253.7	–
		Fertilizer N	164	130	–
	2006	Manure N	0	310.2	–
		Fertilizer N	183	133	–
	2007	Manure N	0	331.4	–
		Fertilizer N	74	21	–
	2008	Manure N	0	308.1	–
		Fertilizer N	74	0	–
	2009	Manure N	0	491.2	–
		Fertilizer N	91.4	0	–
Cornfield	2010	Manure N	0	559.0	–
		Fertilizer N	104	104	–
	2011	Manure N	0	282.6	282.6
		Fertilizer N	104	104	0
	2012	Manure N	0	343.5	343.5
		Fertilizer N	96.6	96.6	0
NG	2013	Manure N	0	448.4	448.4
		Fertilizer N	40	40	0
	2014	Manure N	0	0	0
		Fertilizer N	150.2	47	0
	2015	Manure N	0	165.4	165.4
		Fertilizer N	103.8	56.9	0

CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot. OG is old grassland and NG is new grassland.

Figure 1. Soil nitrate nitrogen (N), ammonium N and water extractable soil organic carbon (WEOC). CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot. Dashed arrows indicate dates of manure application; solid arrows with open V-shaped tip indicate dates of chemical fertilizer application; solid arrows with round top and normal closed tip indicate dates of plowing.

Figure 2. Daily precipitation and air temperature and daily N₂O flux. CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot. Dashed arrows indicate dates of manure application; solid arrows with open V-shaped tip indicate dates of chemical fertilizer application; solid arrows with round top and normal closed tip indicate dates of plowing.

Table 3. Annual nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions (mean ± standard deviation, SD) from 2005 to 2015 in unfertilized control plots (CT), chemical fertilizer plot (F), manure and chemical fertilizer plot (MF) and manure plot (M).

		CT	F	MF	M
Land use	Year	kg N2O-N ha^−1
	2005	0.7 ± 0.4	2.8 ± 0.7	3.6 ± 1.2	–
	2006	0.5 ± 0.3	2.9 ± 0.7	4.9 ± 2.8	–
OG^a	2007	0.7 ± 0.5	1.5 ± 0.5	2.2 ± 0.7	–
	2008	0.6 ± 0.1	2.1 ± 1.5	0.9 ± 0.2	–
	2009	0.4 ± 0.1	1.2 ± 0.7	1.4 ± 0.4	–
	Average	0.6	2.1	2.6	–
	2010	3.9 ± 1.2	17.4 ± 16.1	22.9 ± 11.3	–
Cornfield	2011	5.8 ± 2.3	13.6 ± 8.7	14.3 ± 2.2	11.7 ± 2.3
	2012	3.6 ± 0.7	7.1 ± 3.3	7.7 ± 1.2	5.6 ± 1.7
	Average	4.4	12.7	14.9	8.7
	2013	5.8 ± 1.2	7.5 ± 2.6	11.1 ± 1.5	13.3 ± 2.3
NG	2014	2.8 ± 2.5	4.1 ± 2.5	2.9 ± 0.5	2.4 ± 1.4
	2015	1.2 ± 0.2	2.0 ± 0.6	2.3 ± 1.2	1.1 ± 0.4
	Average	3.2	4.5	5.4	5.6
ANOVA
	d.f.	MS	F	p value
Plot	4	117.31	4.29	0.0065
Land use	2	216.42	7.91	0.0015

OG: old grassland; NG: new grassland; ANOVA: analysis of variance.

^aAnnual N₂O emissions in old grassland were previously reported by Shimizu et al. (2013).

Table 4. Winter nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions (kg N ha⁻¹) and their contribution to total annual emissions in brackets (%).

Year^a	CT	F	MF	M
2005	0.02 (2.3)	0.02 (0.7)	0.01 (0.3)
2006	0.00 (0.0)	0.04 (1.4)	0.02 (0.5)
2007	0.04 (5.6)	0.07 (4.6)	0.04 (1.9)
2008	0.12 (24.8)	0.03 (1.6)	0.03 (3.6)
2009	−0.01 (−2.0)	0.02 (2.0)	0.07 (5.3)
2010	0.17 (4.3)	0.31 (1.8)	0.36 (1.5)
2011	0.49 (8.4)	0.69 (5.1)	3.65 (25.4)	3.65 (31)
2012	0.65 (17.9)	0.48 (6.8)	2.00 (26.0)	2.00 (35.8)
2013	0.14 (2.4)	0.32 (4.3)	0.32 (2.9)	0.45 (2.3)
2014	0.11 (5.1)	0.11 (2.6)	0.06 (−1.9)	−0.05 (−2.3)
2015	−0.01 (−1.2)	−0.28 (−13.6)	0.16 (6.9)	0.08 (7.2)

CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot, N is nitrogen. Winter period was defined as the period from mid-December, when maximum soil temperature fell below 5°C, to the end of February when maximum temperatures recorded reached 0°C.

^aWinter N₂O emissions were significantly higher in cornfield (2010–2012) than grassland (p < 0.01).

Table 5. Nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions during the thawing period (kg N ha⁻¹), and their contribution to total annual emissions in parentheses (%).

Year^a	CT	F	MF	M
2005	0.04 (6)	0.04 (1)	0.03 (1)
2006	0.01 (2)	0.05 (2)	0.05 (1)
2007	0.14 (20)	0.18 (11)	0.12 (6)
2008	0.08 (18)	0.20 (12)	0.08 (10)
2009	0.03 (7)	0.05 (5)	0.03 (3)
2010	0.23 (5.8)	0.51 (2.9)	0.87 (3.8)
2011	2.1 (35)	0.68 (5.0)	0.71 (4.9)	0.71 (6.0)
2012	1.4 (38)	1.03 (14.)	1.43 (18.6)	1.57 (28.1)
2013	0.61 (10.6)	0.73 (9.7)	0.73 (6.6)	0.63 (3.2)
2014	1.32 (61)	1.92 (46.8)	1.75 (60.7)	1.63 (67.8)
2015	0.29 (25.0)	0.83 (40.2)	0.10 (4.5)	0.17 (15.4)

CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot; N is nitrogen. The thawing period was defined as the period when minimum daily temperatures reached 0°C(typically early March), to the time when soils were completely defrosted (minimum soil temperatures ~5°C) in early May.

^aN₂O emissions during thawing were significantly lower in old grassland (2005–2009) than in corn and new grassland (p < 0.01).

Figure 3. Daily nitric oxide (NO) flux. CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot. Dashed arrows indicate dates of manure application; solid arrows with open V-shaped tip indicate dates of chemical fertilizer application; solid arrows with round top and normal closed tip indicate dates of plowing.

Figure 4. Relationship between annual nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission and annual precipitation in (a) old grassland, (b) cornfield and (c) new grassland. CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot.

Figure 5. Relationship between annual nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission and soil pH and ratio of annual nitrogen emitted as N₂O (N₂O-N) to surplus nitrogen and soil pH in (a, b) old grassland, (c, d) cornfield, and (e, f) new grassland. CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot.

Table 6. Multiple and single linear regression models accounting for change in annual nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission with changing land use in the unfertilized control plots (CT), chemical fertilizer plot (F) and manure and chemical fertilizer plot (MF).

Treatment^a	Variable^b	Coefficient	SE	p value	Model R^2
CT	WEOC/NO3^−	−0.006	0.002	0.018	0.78
F	WEOC/NO3^−	−0.018	0.002	0.001	0.93
	Rainfall	0.011	0.001	0.004
	pH	−0.705	0.197	0.023
MF	WEOC/NO3^−	−0.024	0.008	0.016	0.55

^aAnnual N₂O data were transformed using natural log transformation: In (N₂O + 1).

^bWEOC/NO₃⁻ is the ratio of the mean annual soil water extractable carbon to soil nitrate; rainfall is total annual precipitation; soil pH is mean annual values; SE is standard error.

Figure 6. Relationship between annual nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission and the ratio of mean water extractable organic carbon to mean soil nitrate (WEOC/NO₃⁻). Data in white symbols are in old grassland, gray symbols in cornfield and black symbols in new grassland. CT is control plot; F is chemical fertilizer plot; MF is combined chemical fertilizer and manure plot; M is manure only plot.

Shimizu M, Hatano R, Arita Tet al. 2013: The effect of fertilizer and manure application on CH4 and N2O emissions from managed grasslands in Japan, Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 59(1), 69–86. doi:10.1080/00380768.2012.733926

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