High efficiency Nitrogen Study for Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network in Fort Collins, Colorado

High efficiency Nitrogen Study for Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network in Fort Collins, Colorado Nitrogen fertilization is essential for optimizing crop yields; however, it increases N2O emissions. The study objective was to compare N2O emissions resulting from application of commercially available enhanced-efficiency N fertilizers with emissions from conventional dry granular urea in irrigated cropping systems. These emissions were monitored from several irrigated cropping systems receiving N fertilizer rates ranging from 0-202 kg/ha years 2009-2011. Fertilizer types include Urea, UAN, SuperU (N inhibitor), ESN(slow release). In 2009, we eliminated the conventional tillage treatment. Cropping systems from 2009-2011 included a more conservative strip-till continuous corn (ST-CC) rotation and a no-till continuous corn (NT-CC) rotation. We also tested different fertilizer placements, including broadcast (bc), surface banded (bd) sub-surface banded (ssb) N inputs. Nitrous oxide fluxes were measured during these three growing seasons using static, vented chambers and a gas chromatograph analyzer. This work shows that the use of no-till and enhanced-efficiency N fertilizers can potentially reduce N2O emissions from irrigated systems.