POTENTIAL FOR NITROUS OXIDE EMISSION MITIGATION FROM SPRINKLING IRRIGATION APPLICATIONS OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZER COMPARED TO FURROW IRRIGATION IN ARID REGION AGRICULTURE

Abstract

Sprinkling water is applied in shorter irrigation intervals and lighter irrigation applications in arid areas. The water-saving irrigation is the primary method of local agricultural production. Since chemical fertilizer is the primary emission source of nitrous oxide (N2O), it is appropriate to verify the general influence of water-saving irrigation on N2O. Results of the study, conducted in a potato field as the experimental site for two consecutive years, using two different irrigation systemsnamely, furrow (FI) and sprinkling-irrigation (SI) with a mineral N fertilizer (NF) and a control without any fertilizer (Control) are reported. The N2O emission fluxes with NF were higher than those of the control in each irrigation system. On plots where the NF was applied, mean emissions fluxes of N2O was 152.02 g/(m 2 hr) in FI, 36.53g/(m 2 hr) in SI from 2016 to 2017. The reduction of N2O emissions from SI was due to the lower amount of water applied every time and the lower NO3 --N and NH4 + -N of soil associated with SI. This work showed that SI is a method that helps save water and mitigates emissions of the atmospheric N2O pollutants compared to FI.