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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Tillage and Field Scale Controls on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

^a Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
^b Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

^* Corresponding author (ecolee{at}ucdavis.edu)

Received for publication September 8, 2005. There is a lack of understanding of how associations among soil properties and management-induced changes control the variability of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soil. We performed a laboratory investigation to quantify relationships between GHG emissions and soil indicators in an irrigated agricultural field under standard tillage (ST) and a field recently converted (2 yr) to no-tillage (NT). Soil cores (15-cm depth) were incubated at 25°C at field moisture content and 75% water holding capacity. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified that most of the variation of the measured soil properties was related to differences in soil C and N and soil water conditions under ST, but soil texture and bulk density under NT. This trend became more apparent after irrigation. However, principal component regression (PCR) suggested that soil physical properties or total C and N were less important in controlling GHG emissions across tillage systems. The CO₂ flux was more strongly determined by microbial biomass under ST and inorganic N content under NT than soil physical properties. Similarly, N₂O and CH₄ fluxes were predominantly controlled by NO₃^– content and labile C and N availability in both ST and NT soils at field moisture content, and NH₄⁺ content after irrigation. Our study indicates that the field-scale variability of GHG emissions is controlled primarily by biochemical parameters rather than physical parameters. Differences in the availability and type of C and N sources for microbial activity as affected by tillage and irrigation develop different levels and combinations of field-scale controls on GHG emissions.

Abbreviations: GHG, greenhouse gas • GWP, global warming potential • MBC, microbial biomass carbon • NT, no-tillage • PC, principal component • PCA, principal component analysis • PCR, principal component regression • POM, particulate organic matter • SOM, soil organic matter • ST, standard tillage • WFPS, water-filled pore space • WHC, water holding capacity

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