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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Agron.
Sec. Climate-Smart Agronomy
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fagro.2024.1487500
This article is part of the Research Topic Sustainable Nutrient Management under Climate Change View all 5 articles

Effects of nitrogen fertilizer and biochar levels on soil CO 2 emission and wheat yield in irrigation region

Provisionally accepted
Weijun Yang Weijun Yang 1*Liyue Zhang Liyue Zhang 1Yuxin Chen Yuxin Chen 1LiLi Su LiLi Su 1Lining Zhao Lining Zhao 1Pengying Li Pengying Li 2Hongmei Zhao Hongmei Zhao 3Hongtao Jia Hongtao Jia 3
  • 1 College of Agriculture, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China
  • 2 College of Landscape Architecture and Art, Northwest A&F University, xianyang, China
  • 3 College of Resources and Environment, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study examined the impact of biochar application on agricultural productivity and greenhouse gas emissions in irrigated regions of northern Xinjiang. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of nitrogen fertilizer and biochar levels on soil respiration rate, enzyme activity, and spring wheat yield.The experiment employed a randomized block design comprising two nitrogen fertilizer levels (N1: 300 kg•hm -2 and N2: 255 kg•hm -2 ) and four biochar levels (B0: 0 kg•hm -2 , B1: 10×10 3 kg•hm -2 , B2: 20×10 3 kg•hm -2 , and B3: 30×10 3 kg•hm -2 ). This resulted in eight groups (N1B0, N1B1, N1B2, N1B3, N2B0, N2B1, N2B2, and N2B3), each replicated three times.The findings indicated that the N2B2 group exhibited a reduction in soil CO2 emissions, with a cumulative decrease of 4.42% in CO2 emissions compared to the N2B0 control. The application of biochar and/or nitrogen fertilizer, particularly in combination, was observed to increase soil urease, sucrase, and catalase activities. The N2B2 group exhibited a spring wheat yield of 8301.35 kg•hm -2 , representing a 22.1% increase over the N1B0 group. This improvement was attributed to the capacity of biochar to regulate soil water content variability, stabilize soil aggregate composition, mitigate organic carbon mineralization, and reduce farmland carbon emissions. Furthermore, biochar's nitrogen fixation provided essential nutrients for soil microorganisms, thereby enhancing enzymatic reactions and promoting crop growth.In conclusion, the N2B2 regime was determined to be the optimal approach for spring wheat cultivation in irrigated regions of northern Xinjiang, resulting in enhanced crop productivity and the mitigation of carbon emissions. Nevertheless, further investigation of its long-term impact on farmland is recommended.

    Keywords: biochar, CO2 emission, Soil enzyme activity, Spring wheat yield, nitrogen fertilizer

    Received: 28 Aug 2024; Accepted: 31 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Zhang, Chen, Su, Zhao, Li, Zhao and Jia. 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.

    * Correspondence: Weijun Yang, College of Agriculture, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China

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