Nitrous oxide, methane emissions and grain yield in rainfed wheat grown under nitrogen enriched biochar and straw in a semiarid environment

Abstract

Background Soil application of biochar and straw alone or their combinations with nitrogen (N) fertilizer are becoming increasingly common, but little is known about their agronomic and environmental performance in semiarid environments. This study was conducted to investigate the effect(s) of these amendments on soil properties, nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions and grain and biomass yield of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and to produce background dataset that may be used to inform nutrient management guidelines for semiarid environments. Methods The experiment involved the application of biochar, straw or urea (46% nitrogen [N]) alone or their combinations. The treatments were: CN0–control (zero-amendment), CN50 –50 kg ha–1 N, CN100–100 kg ha–1 N, BN0 –15 t ha–1 biochar, BN50–15 t ha–1 biochar + 50 kg ha–1 N, BN100–15 t ha–1 biochar + 100 kg ha–1 N, SN0 –4.5 t ha–1 straw, SN50 –4.5 t ha–1 straw + 50 kg ha–1 N and SN100–4.5 t ha–1 straw + 100 kg ha–1 N. Fluxes of N2O, CH4 and grain yield were monitored over three consecutive cropping seasons between 2014 and 2016 using the static chamber-gas chromatography method. Results On average, BN100reported the highest grain yield (2054 kg ha–1), which was between 25.04% and 38.34% higher than all other treatments. In addition, biomass yield was much higher under biochar treated plots relative to the other treatments. These findings are supported by the increased in soil organic C by 17.14% and 21.65% in biochar amended soils (at 0–10 cm) compared to straw treated soils and soils without carbon respectively. The BN100treatment also improved bulk density and hydraulic properties (P < 0.05), which supported the above results. The greatest N2O emissions and CH4 sink were recorded under the highest rate of N fertilization (100 kg N ha–1). Cumulative N2O emissions were 39.02% and 48.23% lower in BN100 compared with CN0 and CN100, respectively. There was also a ≈ 37.53% reduction in CH4 uptake under BN100compared with CN0–control and CN50. The mean cumulative N2O emission from biochar treated soils had a significant decrease of 10.93% and 38.61% compared to straw treated soils and soils without carbon treatment, respectively. However, differences between mean cumulative N2O emission between straw treated soils and soils without carbon were not significant. These results indicate the dependency of crop yield, N2O and CH4 emissions on soil quality and imply that crop productivity could be increased without compromising on environmental quality when biochar is applied in combination with N-fertilizer. The practice of applying biochar with N fertilizer at 100 kg ha−1 N resulted in increases in crop productivity and reduced N2O and CH4soil emissions under dryland cropping systems.