On-farm trial on the effectiveness of the nitrification inhibitor DMPP indicates no benefits under commercial Australian farming practices

Abstract

The trend of increasing nitrogen (N) fertilisation in commercial agriculture demands mitigation of negative impacts on the environment, such as emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Laboratory and controlled field experiments have demonstrated that the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-Dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) has the potential to effectively mitigate N2O emissions from dairy pasture and crop farming, and may increase yields. Yet, this has not been investigated in on-farm research trials under commercial production conditions. During the winter growing seasons 2014–2016 we performed an on-farm trial on five commercial broad-acre cropping and five dairy farms in North..