Linking N2O emission to soil mineral N as estimated by CO2 emission and soil C/N ratio

Based on the N2O and CO2 emission data concomitantly measured from agricultural upland fields around the world, we developed an empirical model as follows: cumulative N2O emission = aexp[b*(ECO2/Scn + Fn)] (R2adj = 0.85∼0.87), where ECO2 is the rate of heterotrophic respiration from soils, Scn is the soil C/N ratio, and Fn is the chemical fertilizer N rate. The model parameters derived from the data from the soils without receiving chemical fertilizers were significantly different from the ones from the fertilized soils. This model indicates that CO2 emission and soil C/N ratio can be used as scaling parameters to produce regional or global inventories of N2O emission from agricultural soils.