Abstract:
To clarify the characteristics and influencing factors of gaseous nitrogen (N
2O and NH
3) loss in peanut field on red soil arid hillside, aeration method and closed static opaque chamber-gas chromatography (GC) methods were adopted.
In situ monitoring was carried out to reveal the dynamic change characteristics of NH
3 volatilization and N
2O emission of the peanut field on red soil arid hillside under conditions of plowing and no-tillage. Their key influencing factors were identified based on boosted regression tree (BRT) method. The results show that: (1) The variation range of NH
3 volatilization rate (measured in N) during the whole peanut growth period under plowing and no-tillage conditions was 0.02-1.55 and 0.02-1.05 kg·hm
-2·d
-1, respectively, the cumulative volatilization was (17.19±8.56) and (18.38±7.41) kg·hm
-2, respectively, accounted for (11.77±5.86)% and (12.59±5.08)% of the N application, respectively, and the NH
3 volatilization was concentrated within 15 d after base fertilizer application. The variation range of N
2O emission flux under plowing and no-tillage conditions was 0.07-2.90 and 0.02-3.97 mg·m
-2·d
-1, respectively, the cumulative emission was (0.81±0.27) and (0.68±0.10) kg·hm
-2, respectively, accounted for (0.55±0.17)% and (0.46±0.06)% of the N application, respectively, and the hot period of N
2O emission flux was not obvious. No significant difference in NH
3 volatilization between two tillage treatments were found, while no-tillage reduced cumulative N
2O emission by 16.05%. Ammonia volatilization was the main way of nitrogen gas loss in peanut field of red soil arid hillside. (2) The BRT analysis findings, soil ammonium-nitrogen content, days after fertilization, peanut growth period, rainfall in the previous 3 days, soil nitrate-nitrogen content were identified as the key factors affecting ammonia volatilization of the peanut filed on red soil arid hillside. The contribution rates were 47.92%, 14.78%, 8.21%, 7.44% and 5.91%, respectively. However, the key influencing factors of N
2O emission and their relative contributions were soil moisture (24.67%), soil ammonium-nitrogen content (20.34%), ground temperature (12.26%), rainfall in the previous 3 days (9.93%), soil nitrate-nitrogen content (9.91%), days after fertilization (9.64%), and temperature (8.51%). The above results show that fertilization is an important factor affecting the gaseous loss of nitrogen fertilizer in peanut field of red soil, and the highest loss of gaseous nitrogen (NH
3 and N
2O) accounted for 18.35% of the N applied. Microbial nitrification process and its environmental control factors may play an important role in soil nitrogen loss. These results could provide a theoretical basis for improving nitrogen utilization rate and mitigating environmental pollution in hillside agriculture in red soil region of South China.