African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6894

Full Length Research Paper

Characteristics of soil CO2 fluxes and N2O emission in a winter wheat ecosystem under enhanced UV-B radiation

Zhenghua Hu1,2*, Shutao Chen1,2, Qi Li1 and Shuanghe Shen1
  1Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology and Yale-NUIST Center on Atmospheric Environment, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology NUIST, 219 Ningliu Road, Nanjing 210044, China. 2Key Open Laboratory of Arid Climate Change and Disaster Reduction, Institute of Arid Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, 2070 Donggang Eastern Road, Lanzhou 730020, China.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 17 January 2012
  •  Published: 29 February 2012

Abstract

 

Field experiments were conducted during the 2007 to 2008 winter wheat-growing season to investigate the influence of enhanced UV-B radiation on diurnal variations in soil CO2 fluxes and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a winter wheat ecosystem. CO2 and N2O fluxes were measured by static opaque chamber-gas chromatograph technique. Results showed that on sunny days, soil CO2 fluxes and N2O emissions from the soil-wheat system exhibited obvious diurnal variation patterns, which enhanced UV-B radiation. During the jointing, booting, and heading stages, enhanced UV-B radiation significantly decreased the mean diurnal CO2 fluxes of the soil by 49.62% (= 0.000), 50.39% (= 0.004) and 51.44% (= 0.022), respectively. Enhanced UV-B radiation also reduced the mean diurnal N2O fluxes (MNF) of the soil-wheat system by 48.35% (= 0.017) and soil MNF by 36.87% (= 0.027) during the grain-filling stage. Our findings suggested that enhanced UV-B radiation did not change the diurnal variation patterns of soil CO2 fluxes and N2O emissions from the soil-wheat system, but influenced mean diurnal CO2 and N2O fluxes.

 

Key words: Enhanced UV-B radiation, winter wheat, soil, CO2, nitrous oxide.