Simulation of N2O emissions from rain-fed wheat and the impact of climate variation in southeastern Australia

Abstract

The Water and Nitrogen Management model (WNMM) was applied to simulate N2O emissions from a rain-fed wheat cropping system on a loam-textured soil for two treatments, conventional cultivation with residue burn (CC+BURN+N) and direct drill with residue retention (DD+RET+N), at Rutherglen in southeastern Australia from January 2004 to March 2005. Both treatments received the same amount of nitrogen (N) fertiliser. The WNMM satisfactorily simulated the soil water content, mineral N contents and N 2O emissions from the soil, as compared with the field observations for both treatments. The simulated nitrification-induced N2O emissions accounted for 45% and 34% of total N2O emissions for the treat..