4.7 Article

Emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from soil receiving urban wastewater for maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation

Journal

PLANT AND SOIL
Volume 331, Issue 1-2, Pages 203-215

Publisher

SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11104-009-0246-0

Keywords

Wastewater irrigation; Global warming potential; Plant development; Soil characteristics; Inorganic N in soil; Valley of the Mezquital

Funding

  1. Fondo Sectorial de Sagarpa-Conacyt [CLAVE: SAGARPA-2003-C01-5]
  2. Fondos Mixtos Conacyt Gobierno del Estado de Mexico [EDOMEX-2005-c01-19]
  3. Semarnat project (Mexico) [Semarnat-2002-C01-0054]
  4. 'Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI)' Mexico

Ask authors/readers for more resources

We investigated how amending maize with wastewater at 120 kg N ha(-1) affected crop growth, soil characteristics and emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) compared to plants fertilized with urea. Maize growth response was similar when fertilized with urea or wastewater despite a delayed release of nutrients upon mineralization of the organic material in the wastewater. Applying wastewater to soil significantly increased the mean CO2 emission rate 2.4 times to 1.74 A mu g C kg(-1) soil h(-1) compared to the unamended soil (0.74 A mu g C kg(-1) soil h(-1)), and cultivating maize further increased it 3.2 times (5.61 A mu g C kg(-1) soil h(-1)). Irrigating soil with wastewater, cultivating it with maize or applying urea had no significant effect on the emission of N2O compared to the unamended soil (1.49 x 10(-3) A mu g N kg(-1) soil h(-1)). Adding urea to soil did no affect the CH4 oxidation rate (0.1 x 10(-3) A mu g C kg(-1) soil h(-1)), nor did cultivating maize in the urea-amended soil, but adding wastewater to soil resulted in a significant production of CH4 (128.4 x 10(-3) A mu g C kg(-1) soil h(-1)). Irrigating soil with wastewater increased the global warming potential (GWP) 2.5 fold compared to the urea amended soil, while in soil cultivated with maize GWP increased 1.4 times. It was found that irrigating crops with wastewater might limit the use of N fertilizer and water from aquifers, but the amount applied should be limited because nitrate (NO (3) (-) ) leaching and emissions of CO2, N2O and CH4 will be substantial and the increased soil salt content will limit crop growth.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available