Abstract
Agroecosystem nitrogen (N) loss produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, conservation agricultural management practices aimed at reducing N loss are increasingly adopted. However, the ecosystem consequences of these practices have not been well-studied. We quantified N loss via leaching, NH3 volatilization, N2O emissions, and N retention in plant and soil pools of corn conservation agroecosystems in Kentucky, USA. Three systems were evaluated: (1) an unfertilized, organic system with cover crops hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), or a mix of the two (bi-culture); (2) an organic system with a hairy vetch cover crop employing three fertilization schemes (o N, organic N, or a fertilizer N-credit approach); and (3) a conventional system with a winter wheat cover crop and three fertilization schemes (o N, urea N, or organic N). In the unfertilized organic system, cover crop species affected NO3-N leaching (vetch > bi-culture > wheat) and N2O-N emissions and yield during corn growth (vetch, bi-culture > wheat). Fertilization increased soil inorganic N, gaseous N loss, N leaching, and yield in the organic vetch and conventional wheat systems. Fertilizer scheme affected the magnitude of growing season N2O-N loss in the organic vetch system (organic N > fertilizer N-credit) and the timing of loss (organic N delayed N2O-N loss vs. urea) and NO3-N leaching (urea >> organic N) in the conventional wheat system, but had no effect on yield. Cover crop selection and N fertilization techniques can reduce N leaching and greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing yield, thereby enhancing N conservation in both organic and conventional conservation agriculture systems.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-22-2018
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.02260
Funding Information
We thank and acknowledge the funding provided by the University of Kentucky Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, the Kentucky Agriculture Experiment Station, and the Karri Casner Environmental Sciences Fellowship for supporting this work.
Related Content
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.02260/full#supplementary-material
Repository Citation
Shelton, Rebecca E.; Jacobsen, Krista L.; and McCulley, Rebecca L., "Cover Crops and Fertilization Alter Nitrogen Loss in Organic and Conventional Conservation Agriculture Systems" (2018). Horticulture Faculty Publications. 34.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/horticulture_facpub/34
Supplementary Materials
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Food Science Commons, Horticulture Commons, Soil Science Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Frontiers in Plant Science, v. 8, 2260, p. 1-14.
© 2018 Shelton, Jacobsen and McCulley.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.