Abstract
Draining of peatland for agriculture could affect the release of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Presently, there is dearth of information on soil nitrous oxide emission from tropical peat soils cultivated with pineapples. Lysimeter and closed chamber methods were used to quantify nitrous oxide emission from root respiration, microbial respiration, and oxidative peat decomposition under controlled water table condition. Treatments evaluated were: peat soil grown with pineapple, uncultivated peat soils, and bare peat soil fumigated with chloroform. Cultivation of Moris pineapple on drained peat soils resulted in the higher release of nitrous oxide emission (15.7 t N2O ha/yr), followed by fumigated peat soil with chloroform (14.3 t N2O ha/yr), and uncultivated peat soil (10.2 t N2O ha/yr). Soil nitrous oxide emission was affected by nitrate fertilization but emission was not affected by soil temperature nor soil moisture.
Highlights
In Southeast Asia, there are approximately 27.1 million hectares of peat soil (Hoojier et al, 2010) out of which 2.6 million hectares of the peat soils are found in Malaysia (Ismail & Jamaludin, 2007)
There is dearth of information on soil nitrous oxide emission from tropical peat soils cultivated with pineapples
Treatments evaluated were: peat soil grown with pineapple, uncultivated peat soils, and bare peat soil fumigated with chloroform
Summary
In Southeast Asia, there are approximately 27.1 million hectares of peat soil (Hoojier et al, 2010) out of which 2.6 million hectares of the peat soils are found in Malaysia (Ismail & Jamaludin, 2007). Draining of peat soils for agriculture is claimed to accelerate peat organic matter decomposition. Nitrous oxide is derived from both nitrification and denitrification (Maljanen, Martikkala, Koponen, Virkajärvi, & Martikainen, 2007; Jauhiainen et al, 2012). These processes are regulated by microbial activities. Nitrification occurs in aerobic condition for example, in drained and fertilized peat soils (van Beek, Pleijter, & Kuikman, 2010). This is because of decomposition of organic nitrogen which in turn accelerates soil mineralization (Jauhiainen et al, 2012). Water table, fertilization, and availability of organic matter affect N2O emission (Maljanen et al, 2007; van Beek et al, 2010; Jauhiainen et al, 2012)
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