Is Crop Residue Removal to Reduce N 2 O Emissions Driven by Quality or Quantity? A Field Study and Meta-Analysis

Lisa Essich, Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe, Moritz Schneider and Reiner Ruser
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Lisa Essich: Department Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Peteh Mehdi Nkebiwe: Department Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Moritz Schneider: Department Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Reiner Ruser: Department Fertilization and Soil Matter Dynamics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: In order to quantify the reduction potential for nitrous oxide (N 2 O) release from arable soils through the removal of crop residues, we conducted an experiment after sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris 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 2 O fluxes were measured over 120 days in south Germany. High positive correlations between N 2 O fluxes and the CO 2 fluxes and soil nitrate contents suggested denitrification as the main N 2 O source. N 2 O emissions in +CR:D was higher than in +CR:S (2.39 versus 0.93 kg N 2 O−N ha −1 120 d −1 in +CR:D and +CR:S). Residue removal in −CR reduced the N 2 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 2 O emissions, where we included 176 datasets from arable soils with mainly rain fed crops. The overall effect of residue removal showed a N 2 O reduction of 11%. The highest N 2 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.

Keywords: crop residues; N 2 O emissions; C/N ratio; crop removal; sugar beet residues; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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