The relationship between ammonia emissions from a poultry farm and soil NO and N₂O fluxes from a downwind source

International audienceIntensive livestock farms emit large concentrations of NH3, most of which is deposited very close to the source. The presence of trees enhances the deposition. Rates to down wind forests can exceed 40 kg N ha-1. The steep gradient in large NH3 concentration and deposition at the edge of a downwind forest to background concentrations within a few hundred meters provides an ideal site to study the effect of different rates of N deposition on biological and chemical processes under similar environmental conditions. We have investigated the effect of different rates of NH3 deposition (62, 45, 24 and 5 kg NH3-N ha-1 y-1) on the flux of NO and N2O from soil in a mixed woodland downwind of a large poultry farm (160000 birds) in Scotland, which has been operating for about 40 years. Measurements were carried out for a 6 month period, with hourly NO flux measurements, daily N2O fluxes close to the farm and monthly at all sites and monthly cumulative wet and dry N deposition. The increased NH3 and NH4+ deposition to the woodland increased emissions of NO and N2O and soil available NH4+ and NO3- concentrations. Average NO and N2O fluxes measured 15, 25 and 45 m downwind of the farm were 111.2±41.1, 123.3±40.7, 38.3±28.8 µg NO-N m-2 h-1 and 9.9±7.5, 34.3±33.3 and 21.2±6.1 µg NO-N m-2 h-1, respectively. At the background site 270 m downwind the N2O flux was reduced to 1.75±2.1 µg N2O-N m-2 h-1. NO emissions were significantly influenced by seasonal and daily changes in soil temperature and followed a diurnal pattern with maximum emissions approximately 3h after noon. For N2O no consistent diurnal pattern was observed. Changes in soil moisture content had a less clear effect on the NO and N2O flux. On average the NO emissions expressed as a fraction of the elevated N deposited were 7.1% (at 15 m), 6% (at 25 m) and 2.3% (at 45 m) downwind of the farm, whereas for N2O the emissions were only 2.8% (at 15 m), 3% (at 25 m) and 3% (at 45 m) downwind. These emission fractions exceed the emission factor of 1% advised by the IPCC for N2O emissions resulting from atmospheric N deposition