Integrated soil fertility management drives the effect of cover crops on GHG emissions in an irrigated field

Abstract

Agronomical and environmental benefits are associated with replacing winter fallow by cover crops (CC). Yet, the effect of this practice on nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions remains poorly understood. In this context, a field experiment was carried out under Mediterranean conditions to evaluate the effect of replacing the traditional winter fallow (F) by vetch ( Vicia sativa L.; V) or barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.; B) on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the intercrop and the maize ( Zea mays L.) cropping period. The maize was fertilized following Integrated Soil Fertility management (ISFM) criteria. Maize nitrogen (N) uptake, soil mineral N concentrations, soil temperature and moisture, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and GHG fluxes were measured during the experiment. The ISFM resulted in low cumulative N 2 O emissions (0.57 to 0.75 kg N 2 O-N ha −1), yield-scaled N 2 O emissions (3–6 g N 2 O-N kg aboveground N uptake −1) and N surplus (31 to 56 kg N ha −1) for all treatments. Although CCs increased N 2 O emissions during the intercrop period compared to F (1.6 and 2.6 times in B and V, respectively), the ISFM resulted in similar cumulative emissions for the CCs and F at the end of the maize cropping period. The higher C:N ratio of the B residue led to a greater proportion of N 2 O losses from the synthetic fertilizer in these plots, when compared to V. No significant differences were observed in CH 4 and CO 2 fluxes at the end of the experiment. This study shows that the use of both legume and non-legume CCs combined with ISFM could provide, in addition to the advantages reported in previous studies, an opportunity to maximize agronomic efficiency (lowering synthetic N requirements for the subsequent cash crop) without increasing cumulative or yield-scaled N 2 O losses.