IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v2y2013i3p437-451d28509.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Land-Use Change from Grassland to Miscanthus x giganteus on Soil N 2 O Emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Brendan Roth

    (Department of Botany, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland)

  • Michael Jones

    (Department of Botany, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland)

  • James Burke

    (Crops Environment and Land Use Programme, Teagasc Crop Research Centre, Oak Park, Carlow, Ireland
    School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland)

  • Michael Williams

    (Department of Botany, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland)

Abstract

A one year field trial was carried out on three adjacent unfertilised plots; an 18 year old grassland, a 14 year old established Miscanthus crop, and a 7 month old newly planted Miscanthus crop. Measurements of N 2 O, soil temperature, water filled pore space (WFPS), and inorganic nitrogen concentrations, were made every one to two weeks. Soil temperature, WFPS and NO 3 − and NH 4 + concentrations were all found to be significantly affected by land use. Temporal crop effects were also observed in soil inorganic nitrogen dynamics, due in part to C 4 litter incorporation into the soil under Miscanthus . Nonetheless, soil N 2 O fluxes were not significantly affected by land use. Cumulative yearly N 2 O fluxes were relatively low, 216 ± 163, 613 ± 294, and 377 ± 132 g·N·ha −1 ·yr −1 from the grassland, newly planted Miscanthus , and established Miscanthus plots respectively, and fell within the range commonly observed for unfertilised grasslands dominated by perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne ). Higher mean cumulative fluxes were measured in the newly planted Miscanthus , which may be linked to a possible unobserved increase immediately after establishment. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Based on the results of this experiment, land-use change from grassland to Miscanthus will have a neutral impact on medium to long-term N 2 O emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Brendan Roth & Michael Jones & James Burke & Michael Williams, 2013. "The Effects of Land-Use Change from Grassland to Miscanthus x giganteus on Soil N 2 O Emissions," Land, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:2:y:2013:i:3:p:437-451:d:28509
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/2/3/437/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/2/3/437/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Styles, David & Jones, Michael B., 2008. "Miscanthus and willow heat production--An effective land-use strategy for greenhouse gas emission avoidance in Ireland?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 97-107, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ikabongo Mukumbuta & Mariko Shimizu & Ryusuke Hatano, 2017. "Mitigating Global Warming Potential and Greenhouse Gas Intensities by Applying Composted Manure in Cornfield: A 3-Year Field Study in an Andosol Soil," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-20, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tonini, Davide & Vadenbo, Carl & Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard, 2017. "Priority of domestic biomass resources for energy: Importance of national environmental targets in a climate perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 295-309.
    2. Vyn, Richard J. & Virani, Tasneem & Deen, Bill, 2012. "Examining the economic feasibility of miscanthus in Ontario: An application to the greenhouse industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 669-676.
    3. Tuomisto, H.L. & Hodge, I.D. & Riordan, P. & Macdonald, D.W., 2012. "Comparing energy balances, greenhouse gas balances and biodiversity impacts of contrasting farming systems with alternative land uses," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 42-49.
    4. Gallagher, Cathal & Murphy, Jerry D., 2013. "What is the realistic potential for biomethane produced through gasification of indigenous Willow or imported wood chip to meet renewable energy heat targets?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 158-167.
    5. Miguel Brandão & Roland Clift & Llorenç Milà i Canals & Lauren Basson, 2010. "A Life-Cycle Approach to Characterising Environmental and Economic Impacts of Multifunctional Land-Use Systems: An Integrated Assessment in the UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(12), pages 1-30, December.
    6. Murphy, Fionnuala & Devlin, Ger & McDonnell, Kevin, 2013. "Miscanthus production and processing in Ireland: An analysis of energy requirements and environmental impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 412-420.
    7. Long, A. & Bose, A. & O'Shea, R. & Monaghan, R. & Murphy, J.D., 2021. "Implications of European Union recast Renewable Energy Directive sustainability criteria for renewable heat and transport: Case study of willow biomethane in Ireland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:2:y:2013:i:3:p:437-451:d:28509. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.