Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 9
N
2
O Emission Factors for Italian Crops
Simona Castaldi, Giorgio Alberti, Teresa Bertolini, Annachiara Forte,
Franco Miglietta, Riccardo Valentini and Angelo Fierro
Abstract
Nitrous oxide (N
2
O) emissions from several Italian croplands along a
latitudinal gradient were analyzed and the fertilizer induced emission (FIE) fac-
tor, for each single fertilization event, was calculated. Data show that the aver-
age emission factor was between 0.7 and 0.3 %, hence much lower than the IPCC
EF used for temperate croplands. The relationship between N
2
O production and
applied N fertilization rate was exponential and not linear, although the rate of
exponential increase was lower than previously reported. Maximum N
2
O emis-
sion rate was correlated with magnitude of the total FIE, whereas it was inversely
