Towards an improved inventory of N2O from agriculture: Model evaluation of N2O emission factors and N fraction leached from different sources in UK agriculture

Abstract

National and international requirements for greenhouse gas emissions demand the development of more accurate inventories and mitigation options that are effective in reducing emissions. The UK government set a target for the year 2050 of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the 1990 baseline. Estimate of UK national emissions is based on IPCC default methodology and as agriculture contributes about 7% of total GHG emissions of which 60% is N2O, efforts to improve the inventory and assess mitigation options are needed. Models can be used to derive N2O emission factors providing high spatial and temporal resolution. In this study, we used two models, the UK-DNDC, a mechanistic model to estimate N2O emissions from soils and the NITCAT model to estimate the fraction of N applied that is leached and causes indirect emissions, both at county level for the UK. Four mitigation options were assessed and the results showed there were differences in the emission factors according to location. Average emission factors for N2O from soils for inorganic fertiliser did not differ from the IPCC default value but for organic fertiliser the model gave much lower values. FracLEACH for arable land was higher than that for grassland (UK averages of 0.28 and 0.09 respectively) and the national average value was 0.18. For N2O, the most effective mitigation measure was adjusting fertiliser rates to account for crop available manure N. For N leaching, the most effective measure was implementation of a manure closed period.