Fertilizer-induced N2O and NO emissions in tea gardens and the main controlling factors: A recent three-decade data synthesis

Haiyang Yu; Xing Han; Xuechen Zhang; Xiangtian Meng; Zhengfu Yue; Xinhui Liu; Ningguo Zheng; Yaying Li; Yongxiang Yu; Huaiying Yao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162054

Fertilizer-induced N₂O and NO emissions in tea gardens and the main controlling factors: A recent three-decade data synthesis

Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 1:871:162054. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162054. Epub 2023 Feb 8.

Authors

Haiyang Yu¹, Xing Han², Xuechen Zhang³, Xiangtian Meng³, Zhengfu Yue⁴, Xinhui Liu⁵, Ningguo Zheng², Yaying Li¹, Yongxiang Yu⁶, Huaiying Yao⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, China.
² Research Center for Environmental Ecology and Engineering, School of Environmental Ecology and Biological Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China.
³ College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in Tropical Region of China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hainan Key Laboratory of Tropical Eco-Circular Agriculture, Environmental and Plant Protection Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 571101, China; Hainan Danzhou Tropical Agro-ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Danzhou 571737, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, China; Research Center for Environmental Ecology and Engineering, School of Environmental Ecology and Biological Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo 315830, China; Research Center for Environmental Ecology and Engineering, School of Environmental Ecology and Biological Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China. Electronic address: hyyao@iue.ac.cn.

PMID: 36758703
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162054

Abstract

Tea gardens have been widely documented to be hotspots for nitrogen (N) oxide emissions (i.e., nitrous oxide (N₂O) and nitric oxide (NO)). However, a quantitative understanding of N oxide emissions related to different fertilizer regimes and the main controlling factors is lacking. Here, we performed a meta-analysis of 56 peer-reviewed publications on N oxide emissions from global tea gardens over the past three decades. Overall, fertilization increased N₂O and NO emissions (p < 0.001) by 584 % and 790 %, respectively. The stimulating effect of fertilizer on N₂O and NO emissions was mainly related to high N application rates. Furthermore, organic fertilizer treatment, combined fertilizer treatment, biochar amendment, and inhibitor amendment reduced N₂O emissions (p < 0.05) by 63 %, 64 %, 69 %, and 94 %, respectively, relative to chemical fertilizer treatment. For NO emissions, only biochar amendment decreased fertilizer-driven stimulation (by 80 %, p < 0.05). Notably, the dominant factors that influenced fertilizer-induced N₂O and NO emissions in tea gardens were fertilization regimes, climatic conditions, and soil properties. On a global scale, fertilization increased mean N₂O and NO emissions (p < 0.05) from global tea gardens by 44.5 Gg N yr^-1 and 34.3 Gg N yr^-1, respectively, whereas compared with no amendment application, inhibitors reduced N₂O emissions (p < 0.05) by 32.2 Gg N yr^-1 and biochar reduced NO emissions (p < 0.05) by 23.6 Gg N yr^-1. Our results suggest that to obtain maximum ecological and economic benefits, appropriate N fertilizer and biochar and inhibitor amendments should be applied for site-specific mitigation purposes, and long-term, multiarea, in situ experiments and microbial mechanism studies should be conducted.

Keywords: Fertilization regimes; Meta-analysis; Nitrogen oxide emissions; Tea gardens.