Factors That Influence Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agricultural Soils as Well as Their Representation in Simulation Models: A Review

• Main Authors: Cong Wang, Barbara Amon, Karsten Schulz, Bano Mehdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Agronomy
• Subjects: denitrification; nitrification; N₂O impact factor; N₂O modelling; emission factors
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/4/770

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a long-lived greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Emissions of N₂O mainly stem from agricultural soils. This review highlights the principal factors from peer-reviewed literature affecting N₂O emissions from agricultural soils, by grouping the factors into three categories: environmental, management and measurement. Within these categories, each impact factor is explained in detail and its influence on N₂O emissions from the soil is summarized. It is also shown how each impact factor influences other impact factors. Process-based simulation models used for estimating N₂O emissions are reviewed regarding their ability to consider the impact factors in simulating N₂O. The model strengths and weaknesses in simulating N₂O emissions from managed soils are summarized. Finally, three selected process-based simulation models (Daily Century (DAYCENT), DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC), and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)) are discussed that are widely used to simulate N₂O emissions from cropping systems. Their ability to simulate N₂O emissions is evaluated by describing the model components that are relevant to N₂O processes and their representation in the model.