Soil Nitrous Oxide Emissions Following Crop Residues Management in Corn-Wheat Rotation Under Conventional and No-Tillage Systems

Agricultural activity is the major anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from terrestrial ecosystems. Conservation agriculture including crop residue management can play a key role in enhancing soil resilience to climate change and mitigating N2O emissions. We investigated the effects of crop residue rates, including 100 % (R-100), 50 % (R-50), and residue removal (R-0), on N2O emissions in corn-wheat rotation under conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT) systems. The key factors evaluated affecting N2O emissions included soil temperature, soil moisture, soil ammonium, and soil nitrate concentrations. Results showed that the N2O emissions increased with the increasing rate of residue under both CT and NT systems. Both R-100 and R-50 significantly (p < .05) increased the N2O emissions compared to R-0 during the annual rotation cycle. Soil moisture and mineral nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate) were the main driving factors that stimulated N2O emission in both CT and NT systems. In the NT and CT systems, cumulative N2O emissions showed a significant increase with R-50 (+75.5 % in NT, +36.5 % in CT) and R-100 (+134 % in NT, +40 % in CT) as compared to R-0. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between R-100 and R-50 in the CT system, while in the NT system significant increases were observed for R-100 compared to R-50. Overall, our study justified as a first approach only during the first year that crop residue removal led to decreased N2O emissions under semi-arid conditions. However, due to the deteriorating impact of crop residue removal on crop productivity and soil C sequestration, this management method cannot be considered a sustainable agronomic practice. We suggest long-term studies to determine the appropriate rate of postharvest crop residue to achieve less N2O emissions and climate-friendly agricultural practices.