Establishing a regional nitrogen management approach to mitigate greenhouse gas emission intensity from intensive smallholder maize production.

ABSTRACT: The overuse of Nitrogen (N) fertilizers on smallholder farms in rapidly developing countries has increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accelerated global N consumption over the past 20 years. In this study, a regional N management approach was developed based on the cost of the agricultural response to N application rates from 1,726 on-farm experiments to optimize N management across 12 agroecological subregions in the intensive Chinese smallholder maize belt. The grain yield and GHG emission intensity of this regional N management approach was investigated and compared to field-specific N management and farmers' practices. The regional N rate ranged from 150 to 219 kg N ha(-1) for the 12 agroecological subregions. Grain yields and GHG emission intensities were consistent with this

SUBMITTER: Wu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4038602 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature