Morgan Davis
Chenhui Li
Sheel Bansal
Jamshid Ansari
2025
<p><span>Nitrous oxide (N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O), a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and major contributor to climate change, is primarily released through agricultural activities. To better understand and quantify how land management practices, local climate conditions, and soil physicochemical properties affect these agricultural N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions, we conducted a review of the peer-reviewed literature on N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emission from corn [</span><span class="html-italic">Zea mays</span><span> L.] and soybean [</span><span class="html-italic">Glycine max</span><span> (L.) Merr.] fields. We evaluated the seasonal, cumulative effects of three nitrogen fertilizer rates—no fertilizer (0), low (<188 kg N ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span>), and high (188–400 kg N ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span>)—tillage practices, local climate (precipitation and temperature), soil texture, and soil pH on soil N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions. This meta-analysis included 77 articles for corn and 22 articles for soybean fields. Average N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions during the corn rotation were 2.34 and 2.45 kg N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O-N ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span> season</span><sup>−1</sup><span> under low and high N fertilizer rates, respectively, and were both substantially (</span><span class="html-italic">p</span><span> < 0.0001) greater than those of non-fertilized corn fields (0.91 kg N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O-N ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span> season</span><sup>−1</sup><span>). Non-fertilized soybean fields showed seasonal N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions of 0.74 kg N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O-N ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span>, while low fertilizer application triggered a sharp increase (1.87 kg N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O-N ha</span><sup>−1</sup><span>) in N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions by roughly 2.5 times (</span><span class="html-italic">p</span><span> < 0.028). Increased temperature did not significantly (</span><span class="html-italic">p</span><span> > 0.05) affect the emission of N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O from fertilized or non-fertilized corn fields. Regardless of fertilization and tillage practices, our analysis, including Principal Component Analysis, revealed that in corn fields, precipitation and soil pH are the dominant factors influencing soil N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions. This study uniquely quantifies the influence of climate–soil factors, such as precipitation and soil pH, alongside agronomic practices, on N</span><sub>2</sub><span>O emissions, offering new insights beyond previous reviews focused primarily on fertilizer rates or tillage effects.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.3390/agronomy15102358
en
MDPI
Agronomic practices vs. natural soil factors: Influences on nitrous oxide emissions from corn and soybean fields.
article