Does Co-Application of Compost and Mineral Fertilizers Reduce Gaseous Nitrogen (NH3 and N2O) Losses and Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency from Maize-Growing Soil?

Hyerin An; Yeomyeong Lee; Juhee Lee; Sohee Yoon; Seong-Jik Park; Sung-Chang Hong; Jin-Ho Kim; Sang Yoon Kim

doi:10.7745/KJSSF.2023.56.1.119

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2023 Vol.56, Issue 1 Preview Page

Short communication

Does Co-Application of Compost and Mineral Fertilizers Reduce Gaseous Nitrogen (NH₃ and N₂O) Losses and Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency from Maize-Growing Soil?

28 February 2023. pp. 119-125

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) has been considered one of the vital elements to enhance agricultural productivity. However, excessive use of N fertilizer can deteriorate environmental quality, increasing ammonia (NH₃) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions from agricultural ecosystems. The combined use of inorganic and organic fertilizers may improve nutrient holding capacity, which can potentially reduce N losses (NH₃ and N₂O), resulting in high N use efficiency (NUE) and crop productivity. To investigate gaseous N losses and NUE in a maize (Zea mays L.) field experiment, four treatments for N fertilizers were laid out: NPK (urea), compost (compost), NPK+Compost (urea and compost), and control (no fertilizer) treatments. As compared to the control, seasonal NH₃ emissions significantly increased with all fertilization. In particular, combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers was effective on reducing N losses including NH₃ volatilizations and N₂O emissions, showing ca. 16% and 47% reduction, respectively over sole NPK treatment even though the same amount of N was incorporated in all treatments except the control. Maize productivity was significantly improved by N fertilizations, but was the highest in the NPK+Compost treatment, showing no statistical difference with NPK treatment. The NUE was the highest in the NPK treatment (35%) and followed by NPK+Compost (27%), compost (11%), respectively. In conclusion, mixing of organic-inorganic fertilizers could be a reasonable countermeasure to reduce the loss of gaseous N and simultaneously maintain productivity and NUE in agricultural soils.

The amount of ammonia volatilization, nitrous oxide emission and total gaseous N losses at different N fertilization regimes from maize-growing soil.

Treatments	Total N input (kg ha^-1)	NH₃-N loss (kg ha^-1)	N₂O-N loss (kg ha^-1)	Total N losses
Treatments	Total N input (kg ha^-1)	NH₃-N loss (kg ha^-1)	N₂O-N loss (kg ha^-1)	(kg ha^-1)	(%)
Control	-	4.24 c^†	0.84 b	5.08 c	-
NPK	158	6.74 a	2.93 a	9.66 a	6.11 a
Compost	158	4.50 c	1.44 b	5.94 c	3.76 b
NPK+Compost	158	5.64 b	1.55 b	7.19 b	4.55 b

^†Different letters for each row showed a significant difference at p ≤ 0.05 according to LSD’s test.

Keywords

Ammonia

Combined application

Corn

Nitrogen use efficiency

Nitrous oxide

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Information

Publisher :Korean Society of Soil Science and Fertilizer
Publisher(Ko) :한국토양비료학회
Journal Title :Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
Journal Title(Ko) :한국토양비료학회 학회지
Volume : 56
No :1
Pages :119-125
Received Date : 2023-01-31
Revised Date : 2023-02-20
Accepted Date : 2023-02-21
DOI :https://doi.org/10.7745/KJSSF.2023.56.1.119

Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer 한국토양비료학회 학회지 ISSN:0367-6315(Print) 2288-2162(Online)

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