%0 Journal Article
%T Tillage and Fertilizer Management Effects on Soil-Atmospheric Exchanges of Methane and Nitrous Oxide in a Corn Production System
%A Ermson Z. Nyakatawa
%A David A. Mays
%A Thomas R. Way
%A Dexter B. Watts
%A Henry A. Torbert
%A Douglas R. Smith
%J Applied and Environmental Soil Science
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2011/475370
%X Land application of poultry litter (PL) presents an opportunity to improve soil productivity and disposal of poultry waste. We investigated methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural soil receiving PL and ammonium nitrate (AN) fertilizers using surface (SA), soil incorporation (SI), and subsurface band (BA) application methods in conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT) systems on a Decatur silt loam soil in North Alabama. Plots under CT and NT were sinks of CH4 in spring, summer, and fall. In winter, the plots had net emissions of 3.32 and 4.24£¿g CH4 ha£¿1 day£¿1 in CT and NT systems, respectively. Plots which received AN were net emitters of CH4 and N2O, whereas plots which received PL were net sinks of CH4. Plots which received PL using SA or SI methods were net emitters of N2O, whereas under PL using BA application, the plots were net sinks of N2O. Our study indicates that using subsurface band application of PL was the most promising environmentally sustainable poultry waste application method for reducing CH4 and N2O emissions from agricultural soil in NT and CT corn production systems on the Decatur soil in north Alabama. 1. Introduction The presence of the poultry industry in close proximity to row crop farming systems in north-eastern and north-central Alabama presents an opportunity to economically improve crop yields and soil quality through land application of the carbon and nitrogen-rich poultry litter (PL). Poultry litter is an organic fertilizer which is a valuable source of plant nutrients and an excellent soil amendment for improving soil quality and productivity. In addition to exploiting its economic benefits as a fertilizer, application of poultry litter to agricultural soils in conservation tillage systems is a recommended method for disposing of the large quantities of litter generated in the poultry industry of the southeastern USA [1¨C3]. The increasing size and concentration of animal production units has given rise to concerns about air emissions on the earth¡¯s atmosphere at local and global scales [4]. Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are major agricultural greenhouse gases with greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide (CO2) and can significantly contribute to climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change, CH4 is about 20 to 21 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than CO2, while N2O has a direct global warming potential 170 to 290 times that of CO2 [5]. Agricultural soil is a natural source of CH4 and N2O greenhouse gases. Soil microbial activity is the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aess/2011/475370/