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EFECT OF BIOCHAR APPLICATION ON N2O EMISSIONS

Katarína Drgoňová

Abstract

A global climate change caused by anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) is one of the most important environmental problems in the latest human history. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agriculture reach approximately 70% of annual global N2O emissions and approximately 75% of all N2O emissions in Slovakia. Cultivated soils are the main source of N2O in terrestrial ecosystems and therefore its mitigation from agriculture is urgently required. The studies on the effect of biochar application into the soil on N2O are not always consistent, and could also vary with soil, and site condition as well as biochar properties. A field experiment at the locality Dolna Malanta was carried in 2015 during growing season of maize to find out whether the biochar has an effect on N2O emissions after 12 months of its application to Haplic Luvisol. The field experiment included three rates of biochar application (B0 - no biochar, B10 - biochar at the rate of 10 t ha-1, B20 - biochar at the rate of 20 t ha-1) and three levels of N fertilization (N0 - no nitrogen, N160 - nitrogen at the rate of 160 kg ha-1, N240 - nitrogen at the rate of 240 kg ha-1). The biochar treatments without N-fertilization and combined with lower level of N-fertilization reduced cumulative N2O emissions ranging from 8% to 39% compared to their controls (B0N0 and B0N160) however this reduction was not statistically proven (P > 0.05). In case of biochar treatments combined with highest level of N-fertilization (B10N240 and B20N240) was found an increase in cumulative N2O emissions by 17% and 34%, respectively compared to their control (B0N240). Our results show that the application of biochar and biochar combined with N-fertilizers had positive influence on N2O after 12 months from its application. However, this positive effect wasn?t confirmed at the highest N-fertilization level.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2019/3.2/s13.019

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