Abstract
Ammonia (NH3) emission from agriculture is an environmental threat and a loss of nitrogen for crop production. Mineral fertilizers and manure are significant sources of NH3; therefore, abatement technologies have been introduced to mitigate these emissions. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that low-cost measuring techniques are suitable to assess NH3 emissions in smaller plots, appropriate to test different managements. Two experiments were established to quantify NH3 emissions from urea application in a multi-plot design with radii of 5 (R5) and 20 m (R20). Field was bare soil partially surrounded by shelterbelts. Measurement techniques included passive flux samplers (Leuning), and passive concentration samplers (ALPHA) coupled to WindTrax dispersion model. NH3 emission from R5 was consistent with the emission from R20 when the surface-to-atmosphere exchange was not affected by shelterbelts, and wind speed near surface was greater than 1 m s−1. Both measurement methods gave unreliable NH3 quantification in combination with wind speed lower than 1 m s−1 and low emission strength. Cumulative emission over 60 h was 2% of the supplied N from the plots not affected by the shelterbelt, and 1% from the plots affected by shelterbelts, indicating that these structures can significantly reduce NH3 emissions.
Highlights
Emission of ammonia (NH3 ) from the application of mineral fertilizers and animal manure to agricultural surfaces represents a consistent loss of reactive nitrogen [1] which farmers must compensate with additional nitrogen
To calculate the emission, wind speed was measured at 5 min average at the HZINST heights, 1.0 m for the R20 plot and 0.57 m for the radii of 5 (R5) plots, by means of 3cup anemometers coupled with Wind101A Data Loggers (MadgeTech, Inc., Warner, NH, USA)
In Plot 1 emission was assessed with the Integrated Horizontal Flux (IHF) method set-up with the Leuning passive flux samplers placed at resulting in0.6, a surface roughness length cm [22].For
Summary
Emission of ammonia (NH3 ) from the application of mineral fertilizers and animal manure to agricultural surfaces represents a consistent loss of reactive nitrogen [1] which farmers must compensate with additional nitrogen. Once emitted from the source and dispersed in the atmosphere, half of the NH3 is dry deposited in form of gas to natural ecosystems within few kilometers, while the other part is transformed to ammonium aerosols and contribute to wet deposition over long distances (from 100 to 1000 of kilometers) [5]. These depositions contributing directly to exceed the critical nitrogen loads of the ecosystems, causing eutrophication [6,7,8]. Most of the tests performed on NH3 volatilization from manure and mineral fertilizers at field-scale or in in agronomic plots, were measured with the Integrated Horizontal Flux (IHF) technique, the ZINST method, the inverse dispersion modelling (IDM) coupled with concentration measurements, or with wind tunnels [13,14,15]
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