Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Global Change and Photosynthesis Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353200
Title: Implementation of the effect of urease inhibitor on ammonia emissions following urea-based fertilizer application at a Zea mays field in central Illinois: A study with SURFATM-NH3 model

Author
item LICHIHEB, NEBILA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
item MYLES, LATOYA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
item PERSONNE, ERWAN - Institute Of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay
item HEUER, MARK - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
item BUBAN, MICHAEL - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
item NELSON, ANDREW - University Of Illinois
item KLOUTSOU-VAKAKIS, SOTIRIA - University Of Illinois
item ROOD, MARK - University Of Illinois
item JOO, EVA - University Of Illinois
item MILLER, JESSE - University Of Illinois
item Bernacchi, Carl

Submitted to: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2019
Publication Date: 5/15/2019
Citation: Lichiheb, N., Myles, L., Personne, E., Heuer, M., Buban, M., Nelson, A., Kloutsou-Vakakis, S., Rood, M., Joo, E., Miller, J., Bernacchi, C.J. 2019. Implementation of the effect of urease inhibitor on ammonia emissions following urea-based fertilizer application at a Zea mays field in central Illinois: A study with SURFATM-NH3 model. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 269-270:78-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.02.005.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.02.005

Interpretive Summary: Ammonia is an important fertilizer but can also be an environmental pollutant leading to nitrogen pollution is waterways as well as impacting air quality. Agriculture is the main source of ammonia to the atmosphere, but there are very few measurements available that quantify how much ammonia makes it way into the atmosphere. The research in this paper combines measurements of ammonia release from agriculture using two different techniques and uses this data to improve a model of ammonia release from corn agriculture. This research also investigated how a typical management practice of using urease inhibitors to slow ammonia release from agriculture can impact the rate of ammonia being released. After the model was improved, it was able to accurately represent the measured release of ammonia from the corn system, and was able to faithfully represent the impact of urease inhibitor application in the field. This newly improved model can be used to assist the agricultural sector in identifying optimal fertilization strategies to improve water and air quality.

Technical Abstract: Agriculture is the main source of ammonia (NH3) emissions in the atmosphere. NH3 is precursor to secondary fine particulate matter, which is of concern for its impacts on health and visibility. There is limited number of field measurements of NH3 emissions from fertilization, in the USA and this limits our understanding of the importance of individual NH3 source and sink processes in controlling timing and magnitude of NH3 emissions. In this study, we combined existing measurements with a new version of the SURFATM-NH3 model to evaluate the bi-directional fluxes of NH3 at the field scale. This new version includes a: (i) new parameterization of soil and stomatal emission potentials (Gg, Gs) as a function of the N input to the plant and atmospheric N deposition, and (ii) description of the effect of urease inhibitor on NH3 loss from the soil. The model was evaluated with field measurements obtained by the flux-gradient (FG) and relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) methods in a fertilized corn field. By integrating the effect of urease inhibitor, the timing of the highest NH3 emission peak was successfully predicted and magnitude was close to that measured (predicted 1936 ng m-2 s-1, measured by FG 2312 ng m-2 s-1). Based on the model results, urease inhibitor has a considerable effect on the dynamic and order of magnitude of NH3 fluxes. Furthermore, the model simulated the inhibiting action of nBTPT and suggests that it results in a reduction of 50% of NH3 volatilization. The model also successfully predicted the environmental parameters, such as soil temperature. Finally, this new version of SURFATM-NH3 is a valuable tool to evaluate the NH3 bi-directional fluxes at the field scale which describes dynamic modeling of Gs and Gg by taking into account the effect of urease inhibitor which is commonly used in the USA to improve the efficiency of urea fertilizers.