Agricultural soils form the backbone of the country's economic development. The increased population has not only reduced this treasure but also has affected the global climate at an alarming rate. Among the GHGs, emission of N2O due to agricultural activities is nowadays a global concern. Agricultural industries have increased N2O and CH4 by 17% in the atmosphere since 1990, with an average emanation rate of around 60 MT CO2 equivalents per year. Crop production accounts for approximately 50% of N2O emissions stemming from the farming community and discharges of fertilizer-induced N2O, for the time being estimated by IPCC at 1.24% of the N used ranging from 0.76% (rice) to 2.77% (maize). The concentration of atmospheric N2O has increased (60 ppb) after the industrial revolution, at the pace of 0.73 ppb year-1. Besides, soil structure, temperature, moisture, denitrifying microbial population, pH, C:N ratio, and relief are the factors which significantly enhance the N2O levels into the atmosphere. N2O as a GHG has more potential towards global warming than CO2 and has a very long residence period (115 years) in the atmosphere. N2O emission is nowadays a core issue which needs to be mitigated so as to decline the levels of its production in agricultural soils. However, priority should be given to the organic farming, management of soil chemistry, and phytoremediation to reduce the addition of N2O into the ambient air. Furthermore, deployment of N2O reductase in agricultural soils increases the efficiency of converting N2O to inert N2 which is a valuable strategy to reduce N2O production.
Keywords: Climate change; Nitrification; Phytoremediation; Soil enzymes; Synthetic fertilizers.