Towards an agronomic assessment of N 2 O emissions: a case study for arable crops

Agricultural soils are the main anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N 2 O), largely because of nitrogen (N) fertilizer use. Commonly, N 2 O emissions are expressed as a function of N application rate. This suggests that smaller fertilizer applications always lead to smaller N 2 O emissions. Here we argue that, because of global demand for agricultural products, agronomic conditions should be included when assessing N 2 O emissions. Expressing N 2 O emissions in relation to crop productivity (expressed as above‐ground N uptake: ‘yield‐scaled N 2 O emissions') can express the N 2 O efficiency of a cropping system. We show how conventional relationships between N application rate, N uptake and N 2 O emissions…

• CF
  Conservation, Food and Health Foundation
• WU
  Wageningen University and Research