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Title: 
Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research Platform - InveN2Ory. Dung and urine experimental site in Warwickshire, 2013

Related Party - Organisation (Author): ADAS
Related Party - Organisation (Funder): Defra
Related Party - Organisation (Funder): Scottish Government
Related Party - Organisation (Funder): Welsh Assembly Government
Related Party - Organisation (Funder): DAERA Northern Ireland
Abstract:
An experiment was carried out near Stratford-upon-Avon, central England (clay topsoil texture) using small field plots (4.5 x 3.8 m) arranged in a randomised block design with three replicates per treatment. Cattle urine (at 5 L/m2), synthetic urine (at 5 L/m2) and cattle dung (at 20 kg/m2) was applied to grassland in early-May (spring), mid-August (summer) and in mid-October (autumn) 2013. The synthetic urine was prepared using the formulation described for “R2” in the paper by Kool et al., (2006). A control treatment was included where no urine or dung was applied. In a separate treatment, a commercially available nitrification inhibitor was tested; dicyandiamide (DCD) was pre-mixed with the urine prior to application to give an application rate of 10 kg /ha for the DCD. The urine and dung was collected from lactating dairy cows at Reading University, kept refrigerated at <4°C and applied within seven days of collection. Following urine application to five 0.36 m2 areas of the plot (‘urine patches’), measurements of direct N2O-N were made over c.12 months, using 5 static chambers (1 per 0.36 m2 area, giving a total chamber surface area of 0.8 m2) and analysed by gas chromatography. Similarly, dung was applied in five patches (40 cm x 40 cm) so that each patch was completely enclosed by a nitrous oxide static chamber. For soil mineral N and grass N uptake measurements, two additional areas of 2 m x 2 m were treated on each plot; one with 20 litres of urine and one with 80 kg of dung. Grass yields and N offtakes were measured following grass cuts in early-June, early-July and mid-September 2013 from the spring dung and urine application, early-October 2013 and late-June 2014 from the summer dung and urine application, and mid-May 2014 from the autumn dung and urine application. The Warwickshire, 2013 dung and urine experiment contains data sets of; annual nitrous oxide emissions, annual nitrous oxide emission factors, soil moisture, top soil mineral nitrogen (selected dates), temperature, rainfall and associated crop (grass yield and nitrogen offtakes) and soil measurements. Reference: Kool, D.M., Hoffland, E., Abrahamse, P.A and van Groenigen, J.W. (2006). What artificial urine composition is adequate for simulating soil N2O fluxes and mineral N dynamics Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38, 1757-1763.

Subject Keywords: Nitrous oxideUrineSynthetic urineDungNitrification inhibitorsDCDApplication timingGrassland soilsClay soils
Geographic Keywords: WarwickshireWest MidlandsEnglandUnited Kingdom
Phenomenon Time -  Start Date/Time: 2013-05-02 00:00:00 End Date/Time:  2014-10-14 00:00:00

Geographic Extent -
    Longitude (West): -1.91
    Longitude (East): -1.63
    Latitude (South): 52.11
    Latitude (North): 52.28

Data Quality Statement:
The ADAS Integrated Management System (AIMS) is a business centered management system that effectively integrates business planning, business management and business processes. It also ensures that all the requirements of proprietary quality, environmental management and Health & Safety related standards and schemes to which the ADAS Group of Companies complies are addressed in the one company wide management system. At the core of AIMS are the Group’s policy statements, quality and environmental management system manual and an extensive range of Standard Operating Procedures prescribing internal business processes and technical methodologies. All documents within AIMS are periodically reviewed and revised where necessary, in accordance with a documented procedure so that the Group’s business needs continue to be met and to respond to opportunities and ideas from staff for further improvement. The system is centrally controlled and all documents are available to staff with password controlled computer access via the company’s Intranet. Copies of policy statements and the quality and environmental management system manual are publicly available via the company’s website: www.adas.co.uk. Hard copies of these documents can be provided where necessary. Senior management periodically review AIMS to ensure the continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the system and to identify or assess opportunities for further improvement or requirement for change. Compliance with AIMS ensures that client needs are identified, understood and that services and products are subsequently delivered in a professional and independent manner designed to fully meet and satisfy client expectations. Delivery to clients is: - Subject to risk assessment and subsequent risk management. - Specified and agreed in formal contract agreements. - Controlled via the use of effective project planning to meet milestones, specifications, time frames and budget. - Project managed by appropriately trained and qualified staff, using up-to-date equipment and facilities where appropriate. - Subject to rigorous quality control checking before release to ensure technical soundness and compliance with contractual requirements and ADAS standards. Effective implementation of AIMS is assessed by scheduled internal audits carried out by independent Quality Assurance staff. Critical aspects of work and that of sub-contractors and collaborators are also audited where contractually required. ISO 9001 The Soils, Agriculture & Water Business Unit and the Animal Health and Chemicals in the Environment Groups within the Development Businesses Unit are certificated to this standard by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) for: ‘Provision of independent research and consultancy focusing primarily on arable crop protection, crop physiology, sustainable farming systems, agriculture, horticulture, soils and nutrients, water, sustainable livestock, animal health and chemicals in the environment (excluding advisory work funded directly by farmers and growers).’ Certificate No. LRQ 0936648. Each R&D study is led by a Study Director responsible for planning, co-ordinating, controlling and reporting the work. Throughout the work the Study Director has a pivotal role in guiding the scientific content and quality of delivery. A specific protocol approved by the Study Director, sets out the objectives and timetable for the work, and details the experiment design, materials and methods and reporting requirements. Detailed nitrous oxide emission measurement methodology: Direct N2O emissions were measured with five static flux chambers (40 cm wide x 40 cm long x 25 cm high) per plot, covering a total surface area of 0.8 m2. The chambers were of white (i.e. reflective) PVC and un-vented with a water-filled channel running around the upper rim of the chamber allowing an air-tight seal to form following chamber enclosure with a lid (Smith et al., 2012). Chambers were pushed into the soil up to a depth of 5 cm and remained in place throughout the experiment, except during urine/dung application and grass cutting when chambers were removed, locations were marked, and chambers were re-instated to the same position as prior to removal. Chambers remained open except for a short time on each sampling day. On that day, ten samples of ambient air were taken to represent time zero (T0) N2O samples. From each chamber, after a 40-minute enclosure period (T40) a headspace sample was taken using a 50-ml syringe. Using a double needle system the sample was flushed though a pre-evacuated 20-22 ml glass vial fitted with a chloro-butyl rubber septum and held at atmospheric pressure. The N2O flux was calculated using an assumed linear increase in N2O concentration from the ambient N2O concentration (T0) to the N2O concentration inside the chamber after 40-minutes enclosure (T40) (Chadwick et al., 2014). Throughout each experiment, the linearity of emissions through time was checked routinely from three chambers located on the urine only treatment. A minimum of five samples were taken from each chamber at 15 min intervals commencing at closure i.e. T0 and spanning the T40 sampling time. In order to minimise the effect of diurnal variation, gas sampling was carried out between 10:00 am and 14:00 pm and where possible between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm as suggested by IAEA (1992) and referred to in the IPCC good practice guidance (IPCC, 2000). Gas samples were analysed as soon as possible after collection (to minimise potential leakage) using gas chromatographs fitted with an electron-capture detector and an automated sample injection system. Following receipt in the laboratory, three replicates of one standard N2O gas were kept with the samples and were used to verify sample integrity during storage. The gas chromatographs were calibrated on a daily basis using certified N2O standard gas mixtures. An exchange of samples of chamber air and standard gas mixtures between labs from the different research organisations involved in the InveN2Ory programme of experiments who operated the GCs were carried out, to avoid the possibility of any bias in the results towards high or low values. Following urine/dung application, N2O flux measurements were carried out for 5 days immediately following urine/dung application, daily for a further 5 days during the next week, twice weekly for the next two weeks, every other week over the next c.four months, decreasing in frequency to monthly until the end of the 12 month sampling period. Prior to the urine/dung application N2O measurements were taken to provide baseline information. This sampling schedule resulted in an annual total of c.30 sampling days starting from the day of each of the urine/dung application. Measurements were taken over 12 months to follow IPCC good practice guidance and so that the results were directly comparable to the IPCC 2006 methodology default emission factor. Nitrous oxide fluxes from the five replicate chambers per plot were averaged. Cumulative fluxes were calculated using the trapezoidal rule to interpolate fluxes between sampling points. References: Chadwick, D.R., Cardenas, L., Misselbrook, T.H., Smith, K.A., Rees, R.M., Watson, C.J., Mcgeough, K.L., Williams, J.R., Cloy, J.M., Thorman, R.E. & Dhanoa, M.S. (2014). Optimizing chamber methods for measuring nitrous oxide emissions from plot-based agricultural experiments. European Journal of Soil Science 65, 295-307. IAEA (1992). Manual on Measurement of Methane & Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agriculture. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, IAEA-TECDOC-674, ISSN 10111-4289. (IPCC, 2000). Good Practice Guidance & Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Penman, J., Kruger, D., Galbally, I., Hiraishi, T., Nyenzi, B., Emmanul, S., Buendia, L., Hoppaus, R., Martinsen, T., Meijer, J., Miwa, K. znd Tanabe, K. (Eds). IGES, Japan. Smith K.A., Dobbie K.E., Thorman R., Watson C.J., Chadwick D.R., Yamulki S. & Ball B.C. (2012). The effect of N fertilizer forms on nitrous oxide emissions from UK arable land and grassland. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 93, 127-149.
Publication Date: 
2017-04-05


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Rights Statement

This data is published under the licence FBA Licence

Attribution: R.E. Thorman, F.A. Nicholson, S. McMillan, A. Shrosbree, K.E. Smith and J.R. Williams

Citation of this data should be as follows:
R.E. Thorman, F.A. Nicholson, S. McMillan, A. Shrosbree, K.E. Smith and J.R. Williams (2017): Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research Platform - InveN2Ory. Dung and urine experimental site in Warwickshire, 2013. Version:1. [dataset] Freshwater Biological Association [publisher]. doi:10.17865/ghgno652

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