Simultaneous quantification of N₂, NH₃ and N₂O emissions from a flooded paddy field under different N fertilization regimes

Abstract

Gaseous nitrogen (N) emissions, especially emissions of dinitrogen (N₂ ) and ammonia (NH₃ ), have long been considered as the major pathways of N loss from flooded rice paddies. However, no studies have simultaneously evaluated the overall response of gaseous N losses to improved N fertilization practices due to the difficulties to directly measure N₂ emissions from paddy soils. We simultaneously quantified emissions of N₂ (using membrane inlet mass spectrometry), NH₃ and nitrous oxide (N₂ O) from a flooded paddy field in southern China over an entire rice-growing season. Our field experiment included three treatments: a control treatment (no N addition) and two N fertilizer (220 kg N/ha) application methods, the traditional surface application of N fertilizer and the incorporation of N fertilizer into the soil. Our results show that over the rice-growing season, the cumulative gaseous N losses from the surface application treatment accounted for 13.5% (N₂ ), 19.1% (NH₃ ), 0.2% (N₂ O) and 32.8% (total gaseous N loss) of the applied N fertilizer. Compared with the surface application treatment, the incorporation of N fertilizer into the soil decreased the emissions of NH₃ , N₂ and N₂ O by 14.2%, 13.3% and 42.5%, respectively. Overall, the incorporation of N fertilizer into the soil significantly reduced the total gaseous N loss by 13.8%, improved the fertilizer N use efficiency by 14.4%, increased the rice yield by 13.9% and reduced the gaseous N loss intensity (gaseous N loss/rice yield) by 24.3%. Our results indicate that the incorporation of N fertilizer into the soil is an effective agricultural management practice in ensuring food security and environmental sustainability in flooded paddy ecosystems.