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Nitrous oxide emissions from applied nitrate fertiliser in commercial cherry orchards
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 20:53 authored by Peter QuinPeter Quin, Nigel SwartsNigel Swarts, Oliver, G, Paterson, S, Friedl, J, Rowlings, DThe 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.
Funding
Department of Agriculture
Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Horticulture Innovation Australia
History
Publication title
Soil ResearchVolume
59Pagination
60-67ISSN
1838-675XDepartment/School
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)Publisher
CSIRO PublishingPlace of publication
AustraliaRights statement
Journal compilation copyright CSIRO 2021Repository Status
- Restricted