Organic Amendment Study for Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network and Nutrient Use and Outcome Network in Fort Collins, Colorado
Dairy manure is commonly used in place of inorganic N fertilizers but the impacts on trace gas flux, yields and soil N are not well understood in the semiarid western US. CO2, N2O, and CH4 were monitored using surface chamnbers from 5 N treatments to determine their effect on greenhouse gas emissions from a tilled clay loam soil under irrigated, continuous corn production for a 3 yr. time period. Treatments included (i) partially composed dairy manure (DM) (412 kg N ha -1), (ii) DM + AgrotainPlus (DM + AP), (iii) enhanced efficiency N fertilizer (SuperU, or SUPRU) (179 kg N ha-1), (iv) Urea (179 kg N ha-1), and (v) check. These results highlight the importance of best-managemnet practices such as immediate irrigation after N application and use of urease and nitrification inhibitors to minimize N losses.