Soil Nitrogen Uses and Environmental Impacts

Nitrogen (N) is potentially one of the most complex elements on the Earth. It is necessary for all biological activity, but creates negative impacts on water and air quality. There is a balancing act between deficiency and surplus and the forms of N available further complicate our understanding of the dynamics. Biological fixation provides some plants with N supply while others are totally dependent upon N being available in the soil profile for the roots to extract. Nevertheless, the demand for N will increase because the human population with its increasing growth requires more protein and thus more N. Understanding the global N cycle is imperative to meeting current and future nitrogen demands while decreasing environmental impacts. This book discusses availability, production, and recycling of N in air, water, plants, and soils. It features information on N impacts to soil and water quality, management of N in agroecosystems, and techniques to maximize the use efficiency while minimizing the risks of leakage of reactive N into the environment. This volume in the Advances in Soil Science series is specifically devoted to availability, production, and recycling of N with impact on climate change and water quality, and management of N in agroecosystems in the context of maximizing the use efficiency and minimizing the risks of leakage of reactive N (NO-3, N¬2O) into the environment.

Contents Preface Editors Contributors Chapter 1 Benefits and Unintended Consequences of Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers B.A. Stewart Chapter 2 Nitrogen Fixation by Pulse Crops and the Use of Nitrogen Isotopic Techniques to Measure the Fixation Capacity Minh-Long Nguyen Chapter 3 The Role of Nitrogen Stable Isotopes to Investigate Soil Nitrogen Transformations and Cycling in Agricultural Systems Minh-Long Nguyen, Jiafa Luo, and Bert F. Quin Chapter 4 Nitrogen Loss in Snowmelt Runoff from Non-Point Agricultural Sources on the Canadian Prairies Kimberley D. Schneider, Arumugam Thiagarajan, Barbara J. Cade-Menun, Brian G. McConkey, and Henry F. Wilson Chapter 5 Denitrification in Soil Mark S. Coyne Chapter 6 Nitrogen Balances and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in the Nordic Countries Anne Falk Øgaard and Marianne Bechmann Chapter 7 Intensive Dairy and Beef Systems: N Loss Mitigations and Barriers to Their Adoption Bert F. Quin Chapter 8 Efficient Nitrogen Management in the Tropics and Subtropics Rajendra Prasad and Peter R. Hobbs Chapter 9 Enhancing Soil Organic Carbon by Managing Nitrogen in China Shou-Tian Ma, Xin Zhao, Chao Pu, Yang Liu, Rattan Lal, Jian-Fu Xue, and Hai-Lin Zhang Chapter 10 Managing Nitrogen in Small Landholder Hill Farms of North Eastern Indian Himalayas Anup Das, Jayanta Layek, Gulab Singh Yadav, S. Babu, D. Sarkar, R.S. Meena, and Rattan Lal Chapter 11 Merits and Limitations of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers Matthew D. Ruark, Rogério P. Soratto, and Carl J. Rosen Chapter 12 Economic and Policy Implications of Nitrogen Management Otto C. Doering III, Benjamin M. Gramig, and Dawoon Jeong Chapter 13 Formulations of Slow Release Fertilizers for Enhancing N Use Efficiency Amit Roy Chapter 14 Managing the Soil Nitrogen Cycle in Agroecosystems Richard A. Ferrieri, Eliot Herman, Benjamin Babst, and Michael J. Schueller Chapter 15 Nitrogen: Managing the Necessary Evil Rattan Lal Index

Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, The Ohio State University, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Iceland. His current research focus is on climate-resilient agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, sustainable intensification, enhancing use efficiency of agroecosystems, and sustainable management of soil resources of the tropics. He received honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from Punjab Agricultural University (2001), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas (2005), Alecu Russo Balti State University, Moldova (2010), Technical University of Dresden, Germany (2015), and University of Lleida, Spain (2017). He was president of the World Association of the Soil and Water Conservation (1987–1990), the International Soil Tillage Research Organization (1988– 1991), the Soil Science Society of America (2005–2007), and is President Elect of International Union of Soil Science. He was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on U.S. National Assessment of Climate Change-NCADAC (2010–2013), member of the SERDP Scientific Advisory Board of the US-DOE (2011–), Senior Science Advisor to the Global Soil Forum of Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany (2010–), member of the Advisory Board of Joint Program Initiative of Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI) of the European Union (2013–), and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and Resources of the United Nations University (UNU-FLORES), Dresden, Germany (2014– 2017). Prof. Lal was a lead author of IPCC (1998–2000). He has mentored 106 graduate students and 54 postdoctoral researchers, and hosted 156 visiting scholars. He has authored/co-authored 818 refereed journal articles, has written 19 and edited/co-edited 65 books. For 3 years (2014, 2015, 2016), Reuter Thomson listed him among the world’s most influential scientific minds and having citations of publications among the top 1% of scientists in agricultural sciences. B.A. Stewart, Ph.D., is Director of the Dryland Agriculture Institute and a distinguished professor of Agriculture at West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas. He is a former director of the USDA Conservation and Production Laboratory at Bushland, Texas; past president of the Soil Science Society of America; and member of the 1990–1993 Committee on Long-Range Soil and Water Policy, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Soil and Water Conservation Society, a recipient of the USDA Superior Service Award, a recipient of the Hugh Hammond Bennett Award of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, and an honorary member of the International Union of Soil Sciences in 2008. In 2009, Dr. Stewart was inducted into the USDA Agriculture Research Service Science Hall of Fame. Dr. Stewart is very supportive of education and research on dryland agriculture. The B.A. and Jane Ann Stewart Dryland Agriculture Scholarship Fund was established at West Texas A&M University in 1994 to provide scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students with a demonstrated interest in dryland agriculture.