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Dryad

Data from: Water-conscious management strategies reduce per-yield irrigation and soil emissions of CO2, N2O, and NO in high-temperature forage cropping systems.

Data files

Jul 26, 2023 version files 3.92 MB

Abstract

Agriculture produces large emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and nitric oxide (NO), especially in high-temperature agroecosystems, where management approaches for reducing these emissions are needed. A promising management solution to increase water infiltration and reduce trace gas emissions is subsurface drip irrigation, a method which increases rhizosphere access to water and nitrogenous fertilizers. In a multi-year field study, we compared per-yield irrigation and soil emissions for flood- and drip-irrigated field plots in southern California during two seasons and between two forage crops differing in fertilizer requirements: alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor ssp. Sudanese). We monitored soil climate and emission responses to irrigation using a custom array of automated chambers connected to trace gas analyzers that measured gas fluxes continuously every 30 minutes. We found that, compared to flood-irrigated fields, drip irrigation in alfalfa increased yield by 7%, decreased irrigation demand by 11%, and decreased CO2 emissions by 59%, N2O by 14%, and NO by 27%. Drip irrigation in sudangrass increased yield by 6%, decreased irrigation by 68%, increased CO2 emissions by 3%, and decreased both N2O and NO emissions by 62%. In both crops, differences between irrigation types were strongest in the summer when flooded soil produced the largest pulses of N2O and NO relative to small drip-irrigated pulses. As agriculture continues to intensify in warmer climates, implementation of subsurface drip irrigation can help reduce agroecosystem contributions to climate change and air pollution while increasing crop yields.