Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T20:04:45.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of plastic film mulching with drip irrigation on N2O and CH4 emissions from cotton fields in arid land

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2013

Z. LI
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
R. ZHANG
Affiliation:
Wuhan Vegetable Research Institute, Wuhan 430065, China
X. WANG
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
F. CHEN
Affiliation:
Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
D. LAI
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
C. TIAN*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: tianchy@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Summary

To evaluate the effects of a modern cultivation system of plastic film mulching with drip irrigation (MD) on soil greenhouse gas fluxes, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes were quantified and contrasted in an MD system and a traditional system of mulch-free flood-irrigated (MFF) cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in fields of northwest China. The results showed that soil N2O flux and the absorption rate of CH4 were lower in the MD than the MFF sites. A possible reason for the higher CH4 emissions at MD sites was that the relatively low gaseous oxygen (O2) availability and high ammonium (NH4+) content in the MD soil increased CH4 generation by methanogens and decreased CH4 oxidation by methanotrophs. The lower N2O in the MD sites may be due to an increase of soil denitrification by Thiobacillus denitrificans that reduced some nitrous compounds further into nitrogen gas (N2). Taking into account the global warming potentials of CH4 and N2O in a 100-year time horizon, during the entire growth period, the contribution of CH4 to the greenhouse effect was significantly lower than N2O in these two treatments. Considering these two greenhouse gas fluxes together, a transition from non-mulching cultivation to mulching cultivation could reduce atmospheric emissions by c. 20 g CO2 e m2/season. Based on these findings and previous studies, it can be concluded that mulched-drip irrigation cultivation is a good way to decrease the emission of greenhouse gases and reduce the global warming impact of arid farmlands.

Type
Climate Change and Agriculture Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Angel, R., Matthies, D. & Conrad, R. (2011). Activation of methanogenesis in arid biological soil crusts despite the presence of oxygen. Plos ONE 6, e20453. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020453CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bai, J. H., Wang, J. J., Yan, D. H., Gao, H. F., Xiao, R., Shao, H. B. & Ding, Q. Y. (2012). Spatial and temporal distributions of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in two marsh wetlands with different flooding frequencies of the yellow river delta, China. Clean – Soil Air Water 40, 11371144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalal, R. C., Allen, D. E., Livesley, S. J. & Richards, G. (2008). Magnitude and biophysical regulators of methane emission and consumption in the Australian agricultural, forest, and submerged landscapes: a review. Plant and Soil 309, 4376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fender, A. C., Pfeiffer, B., Gansert, D., Leuschner, C., Daniel, R. & Jungkunst, H. F. (2012). The inhibiting effect of nitrate fertilisation on methane uptake of a temperate forest soil is influenced by labile carbon. Biology and Fertility of Soils 48, 621631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geng, Y. B., Luo, G. Q. & Yuan, G. F. (2010). CH4 uptake flux of Leymus chinensis steppe during rapid growth season in Inner Mongolia, China. Science China: Earth Sciences 53, 977983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gu, X. Y., Liang, Z. W., Huang, L. H., Ma, H. Y., Wang, M. M., Yang, H. Y., Liu, M., Lv, H. Y. & Lv, B. S. (2012). Effects of plastic film mulching and plant density on rice growth and yield in saline-sodic soil of Northeast China. Journal of Food Agriculture and Environment 10, 560564.Google Scholar
Hasegawa, K., Shimizu, K. & Hanaki, K. (2004). Nitrate removal with low N2O emission by application of sulfur denitrification in actual agricultural field. Water Science and Technology 50, 145151.Google Scholar
He, W. P., Yan, C. R., Zhao, C. X., Chang, R. R., Liu, Q. & Liu, S. (2009). Study on the pollution by plastic film mulch film and its countermeasure in China. Journal of Agro-Environment Science 28, 533538.Google Scholar
Ibarra-Jimenez, L., Zermeno-Gonzalez, A., Munguia-Lopez, J., Quezada-Martin, M. A. R. & De La Rosa-Ibarra, M. (2008). Photosynthesis, soil temperature and yield of cucumber as affected by colored plastic mulch. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B: Soil and Plant Science 58, 372378.Google Scholar
IPCC (2001). Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (Eds J. T., Houghton, Y., Ding, D. J., Griggs, M., Noguer, P. J., Van Der Linden, X., Dai, K., Maskell & C. A., Johnson), pp. 238271. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jiang, C. M., Yu, G. R., Fang, H. J., Cao, G. M. & Li, Y. N. (2010). Short-term effect of increasing nitrogen deposition on CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Atmospheric Environment 44, 29202926.Google Scholar
Jin, Z., Dong, Y. S., Qi, Y. C. & Domroes, M. (2009). Precipitation pulses and soil CO2 emission in desert shrubland of Artemisia ordosica on the Ordos Plateau of Inner Mongolia, China. Pedosphere 19, 799807.Google Scholar
Khan, A. R. & Datta, B. (1991). The effect of mulch on oxygen flux. Agrochimica 35, 390395.Google Scholar
Letey, J., Valoras, N., Hadas, A. & Focht, D. D. (1980). Effect of air-filled porosity, nitrate concentration, and time on the ratio of N2O-N2 evolution during denitrification. Journal of Environmental Quality 9, 227231.Google Scholar
Li, F. M., Song, Q. H., Jjemba, P. K. & Shi, Y. C. (2004). Dynamics of soil microbial biomass C and soil fertility in cropland mulched with plastic film in a semiarid agro-ecosystem. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 36, 18931902.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Z. G., Zhang, R. H., Wang, X. J., Chen, F. & Tian, C. Y. (2012). Growing season carbon dioxide exchange in flooded non-mulching and non-flooded mulching cotton. PLoS ONE 7, e50760. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050760.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Li, S. Q., Yang, S. J., Hu, W. & Chen, X. P. (2010). Diurnal and seasonal soil CO2 flux patterns in spring maize fields on the Loess Plateau, China. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B: Soil and Plant Science 60, 245255.Google Scholar
Nishimura, S., Komada, M., Takebe, M., Yonemura, S. & Kato, N. (2012). Nitrous oxide evolved from soil covered with plastic mulch film in horticultural field. Biology and Fertility of Soils 48, 787795.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okuda, H., Noda, K., Sawamoto, T., Tsuruta, H., Hirabayashi, T., Yonemoto, J. Y. & Yagi, K. (2007). Emission of N2O and CO2 and uptake of CH4 in soil from a satsuma mandarin orchard under mulching cultivation in central Japan. Journal of the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science 76, 279287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paustian, K., Six, J., Elliott, E. T. & Hunt, H. W. (2000). Management options for reducing CO2 emissions from agricultural soils. Biogeochemistry 48, 147163.Google Scholar
Schellenberg, D. L., Alsina, M. M., Muhammad, S., Stockert, C. M., Wolff, M. W., Sanden, B. L., Brown, P. H. & Smart, D. R. (2012). Yield-scaled global warming potential from N2O emissions and CH4 oxidation for almond (Prunus dulcis) irrigated with nitrogen fertilizers on arid land. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 155, 715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharmasarkar, E. C., Sharmasarkar, S., Miller, S. D., Vance, G. F. & Zhang, R. (2001). Assessment of drip and flood irrigation on water and fertilizer use efficiencies for sugarbeets. Agricultural Water Management 46, 241251.Google Scholar
Six, J., Ogle, S. M., Breidt, F. J., Conant, R. T., Mosier, A. R. & Paustian, K. (2004). The potential to mitigate global warming with no-tillage management is only realized when practised in the long term. Global Change Biology 10, 155160.Google Scholar
Wang, Y. S. & Wang, Y. H. (2003). Quick measurement of CH4, CO2 and N2O emissions from a short-plant ecosystem. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 20, 842844.Google Scholar
Win, K. T., Nonaka, R., Toyota, K., Motobayashi, T. & Hosomi, M. (2010). Effects of option mitigating ammonia volatilization on CH4 and N2O emissions from a paddy field fertilized with anaerobically digested cattle slurry. Biology and Fertility of Soils 46, 589595.Google Scholar
Xie, B. H., Zheng, X. H., Zhou, Z. X., Gu, J. X., Zhu, B., Chen, X., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. Y., Zhao, Z. C., Liu, C. Y., Yao, Z. S. & Zhu, J. G. (2010). Effects of nitrogen fertilizer on CH4 emission from rice fields: multi-site field observations. Plant and Soil 326, 393401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Y. C., Shen, Q. R., Li, M. L., Dittert, K. & Sattelmacher, B. (2004). Effect of soil water status and mulching on N2O and CH4 emission from lowland rice field in China. Biology and Fertility of Soils 39, 215217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yanai, Y., Hirota, T., Iwata, Y., Nemoto, M., Nagata, O. & Koga, N. (2011). Accumulation of nitrous oxide and depletion of oxygen in seasonally frozen soils in northern Japan – snow cover manipulation experiments. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 43, 17791786.Google Scholar