Synthetic fertilizer management for China's cereal crops has reduced N2O emissions since the early 2000s.
China has implemented a soil testing and fertilizer recommendation (STFR) program to reduce the over-usage of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer on cereal crops since the late 1990 s. Using province scale datasets, we estimated an annual reduction rate of 2.5-5.1 kg N ha(-1) from 1998 to 2008 and improving grain yields, which were attributed to the balanced application of phosphate and potassium fertilization. Relative to the means for 1998-2000, the synthetic N fertilizer input and the corresponding N-induced N(2)O production in cereal crops were reduced by 22 ± 0.7 Tg N and 241 ± 4 Gg N(2)O-N in 2001-2008. Further investigation suggested that the N(2)O emission related to wheat and maize cultivation could be reduced by 32-43 Gg N(2)O-N per year in China (26%-41% of the emissions in 2008) if the STFR practice is implemented universally in the future.
State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, PR China.
Wenjuan
W
Sun
Yao
Y
Huang
D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D014908:Triticum / Q000737:chemistry*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry*
D005308:Fertilizers; D012987:Soil; D009609:Nitrous Oxide; D009584:Nitrogen