Ranking factors affecting emissions of GHG from incubated agricultural soils

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Garcia-Marco, S., Ravella, S. R., Chadwick, D. R., Vallejo, A., Gregory, A. S. and Cardenas, L. M. 2014. Ranking factors affecting emissions of GHG from incubated agricultural soils. European Journal of Soil Science. 65 (4), pp. 573-583. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12143

AuthorsGarcia-Marco, S., Ravella, S. R., Chadwick, D. R., Vallejo, A., Gregory, A. S. and Cardenas, L. M.
Abstract

Agriculture significantly contributes to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and there is a need to develop effective mitigation strategies. The efficacy of methods to reduce GHG fluxes from agricultural soils can be affected by a range of interacting management and environmental factors. Uniquely, we used the Taguchi experimental design methodology to rank the relative importance of six factors known to affect the emission of GHG from soil: nitrate (NO3-) addition, carbon quality (labile and non-labile C), soil temperature, water-filled pore space (WFPS) and extent of soil compaction. Grassland soil was incubated in jars where selected factors, considered at two or three amounts within the experimental range, were combined in an orthogonal array to determine the importance and interactions between factors with a L-16 design, comprising 16 experimental units. Within this L-16 design, 216 combinations of the full factorial experimental design were represented. Headspace nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were measured and used to calculate fluxes. Results found for the relative influence of factors (WFPS and NO3- addition were the main factors affecting N2O fluxes, whilst glucose, NO3- and soil temperature were the main factors affecting CO2 and CH4 fluxes) were consistent with those already well documented. Interactions between factors were also studied and results showed that factors with little individual influence became more influential in combination. The proposed methodology offers new possibilities for GHG researchers to study interactions between influential factors and address the optimized sets of conditions to reduce GHG emissions in agro-ecosystems, while reducing the number of experimental units required compared with conventional experimental procedures that adjust one variable at a time.

KeywordsSoil Science
Year of Publication2014
JournalEuropean Journal of Soil Science
Journal citation65 (4), pp. 573-583
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12143
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
Autonomous Community of Madrid
Publisher's version
PublisherWiley
ISSN1351-0754

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/8qz2w/ranking-factors-affecting-emissions-of-ghg-from-incubated-agricultural-soils

140 total views
57 total downloads
1 views this month
0 downloads this month
Download files as zip