Synthetic ammonia is an important factor to ensure crop yield. With the increasing amount of fertilizer input, the environmental problems become more and more prominent. How to ensure both yield and environmental friendliness is the key to agricultural production at present. Therefore, how to reduce nitrous oxide under the condition of high nitrogen fertilizer input is the key to the sustainable development of agriculture. Reducing nitrous oxide emissions by regulating microbial community structure and diversity may be a future trend.
Dear Dr Weiyan Wang 王威雁
Emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) or the whole NOx package is inevitable consequence of the soil nitrogen cycle. Excess use of nitrogenous fertilizers do create more of oxides through biological and chemical processes. Easiest option would be to use fertilizers sparingly so that the plants are able to utilize them completely or mostly with minimum surplus. Crop rotation with legumes and pastures can also enrich soil nitrogen which is more bioavailable due to being organic in nature, it is the most eco-friendly option.
Many efforts focus on using nitrification inhibitors but hindering the nitrogen cycle is never an option to curb NOx emission since excess of reduced faction always gives rise to excess of oxidized counterparts sooner or later under aerobic conditions. Maintenance of partial anaerobicity ensures slower decomposition rates of the organics but too much ammonia is not conducive for the environment if its is being used for fisheries purposes in tandem with agriculture.
Ultimately it depends on the soil stoichiometry, irrigation, mind set of the person involved and the quality of the fertilizer used. Specific application of nitrous oxide reducing bacteria at the rhizosphere of the crop can effectively manage the problem but one needs to study the efficacy of particular strains in this regard with probable effects on the soil nitrogen quota.
I hope this points you to the right direction.
With regards,
Dr. Abhishek Mukherjee
You are right. We may resort to the technique of bioremediation using microbial consortia.
N2O emission fro agricultural soils increases with increase in N input. The most effective and economical way of regulating N2O emissions from cropland is to manage the N input to match with crop demand. This will also minimize financial loss associated with excessive fertilization.
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