Abstract
To evaluate the effect of a nitrification inhibitor on reducing N2O emissions from saline soils, we undertook a field plot experiment with three salinity levels (non-saline, NS = 0.21 dS m−1; low saline, LS = 1.02 dS m−1; and high saline, HS = 5.23 dS m−1), factorially combined with two nitrification inhibitor treatments (with and without DMPP (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate)). The low saline soil had the highest N2O flux peak and its cumulative N2O emissions were 2.2-fold those of the non-saline soil and 3.1-fold those of the high saline soil. Low salinity strongly inhibited nitrite oxidation and only slightly inhibited ammonia oxidation, which resulted in a high accumulation of NO2−-N and high N2O emissions. The nitrification inhibitor DMPP reduced cumulative N2O emissions (p < 0.05) by 61% in non-saline soil (reduction of 88.3 mg N m−2) and by 75% in low saline soil (reduction of 239.8 mg N m−2). DMPP offsets low salinity-induced high N2O emissions by inhibiting ammonia oxidation.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for providing a scholarship to Yawei Li. Finally, we thank Prof. Paolo Nannipieri for editing and Dr. George Dodds for proofreading.
Funding
This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51879075) and Excellent Scientific and Technological Innovation Team in Jiangsu Province.
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Li, Y., Xu, J., Liu, X. et al. Nitrification inhibitor DMPP offsets the increase in N2O emission induced by soil salinity. Biol Fertil Soils 56, 1211–1217 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01490-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01490-9