Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent greenhouse gas, with a global warming factor 300 times that of CO₂. The Australian Greenhouse Office estimates N₂O contributes 17.5% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from Australian agriculture. Emissions have risen by 37.6% over the period 1990-2000, however these estimates are based purely on increases in nitrogen fertilizer application to agricultural systems.

There are few credible measurements of emissions of N₂O from Australian farming systems to adequately account for the large temporal variability in emissions. The soil science research team of School of Resource Management has strong expertise in the measurement and modeling N₂O emissions form soil-plant systems.

The main research activities will focus on the dynamics of soil water and nitrogen, the key drivers for N₂O emissions, with the main aims being to develop;

• a spatially referenced model to predict greenhouse gas emissions at catchment scales, and
• cost-effective, management practices and a decision support models to mitigate N₂O emissions.

This research is part of the new CRC non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gas program of the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, of which the University of Melbourne (Melbourne School of Land and Environment) is a partner.

Current research projects being carried out at by the soils group within the CRC non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gas program include;

• quantifying relationships between soil properties and rate constants for nitrogen transformations in soils, with particular focus on denitrification and the ratio N₂O/N₂ emitted during denitrification,
• quantifying N₂O emissions from key agricultural systems using chambers and micrometeorological methods, and
• developing a spatially referenced model for identifying optimal strategies for managing water and fertilizer nitrogen to reduce N₂O emissions from key agricultural systems.

Project funded by: CRC for Greenhouse Gas Accounting.

Research Team: Dr Deli Chen, Dr Robert Edis, Dr Yong Li, Emeritus Professor Robert White , Dr Richard Eckard.

Contact for further information: Dr Deli Chen, delichen@unimelb.edu.au