Fertiliser and seasonal urine effects on N₂O emissions from the urine-fertiliser interface of a grazed pasture

Abstract

Significant areas of ruminant-grazed pastures are simultaneously covered by excreted urine and fertiliser nitrogen (N). However, the effect of overlapping N inputs on nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission factors has not been studied. Three rates of ¹⁵N-labelled urea fertiliser were applied with either no urine, an autumn-urine or a spring-urine application. These treatments were applied to perennial ryegrass pasture (Lolium perenne L.) and N₂O fluxes were determined over 373 days using standard static closed chamber techniques. Cumulative N₂O-N fluxes ranged from 766 to 4332 g N₂O-N ha⁻¹ (0.36%-0.74% of total N applied) and were lowest in the absence of urine; however, no fertiliser rate effect occurred regardless of urine presence or season of application. Urine-elevated N₂O-N fluxes followed urine applications for up to 40 days, resulting in lower fertiliser contributions to the N₂O-N fluxes at these times. Total ¹⁵N- recoveries as N₂O-N were ≤0.04% and did not differ with fertiliser rate.