Trace gas responses of tropical forest and pasture soils to N and P fertilization

[1] We measured the responses of nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) to nitrogen (N) and/or phosphorus (P) fertilization in a mature moist tropical forest and an 11-year-old pasture in the Brazilian Amazon. Nitrogen was applied in two forms, ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-). In the forest, NO emissions increased by 4 to 9 times the controls in the NH4+ amended plots. Nitrous oxide emissions showed a small response only in the NH4+ amended plots. In the pasture, NO emissions during the first 7 days after fertilization with either form of N were about twice those in the control plots. Nitrous oxide emissions increased more than 18 times the controls in the NO3- amended plots 1 day after fertilization. The estimated yields of total nitrogen oxide loss from the forest were between 0.2 and 1.6% of the applied nitrogen, predominately as NO. Pasture yields were greater, up to 2.8% of the applied nitrogen, predominately as N2O. In the context of Rondonia and other regions in the Amazon Basin, pasture management practices are changing to include increased use of fertilizer, particularly in older pastures that have lower NO and N2O emissions than the original intact forests. This may lead to large short-term releases of N2O and alter the future N2O emissions from the Basin.