Mitigating nitrous oxide emission from soil under conventional and no-tillage in wheat using nitrification inhibitors

No-till farming in wheat is being practiced in the rice–wheat system of the Indo-Gangetic plains of south Asia for resource conservation. No-tillage leads to mitigation of carbon dioxide emission, but may emit more nitrous oxide (N2O) as compared to conventional tillage reducing mitigation benefit. The aim of this study was assessment of N2O emission in wheat grown under conventional and no-tillage and its mitigation using two new nitrification inhibitors, viz. S-benzylisothiouronium butanoate (SBT-butanoate) and S-benzylisothiouronium furoate (SBT-furoate). Cumulative emission of N2O-N was higher under no-tillage by 12.2% with urea fertilization and from 4.1 to 4.8% for the inhibitor treatments as compared to the conventional tillage. In no-tillage total emission of N2O-N reduced from 0.43% of applied N with urea to 0.29% of applied N with SBT-furoate treatment. The N2O-N emissions in SBT-butanoate treatment were at par with the standard dicyandiamide (DCD) inhibitor treatment. Water-filled pore space (WFPS) was higher on most days under no-tillage, with the largest emissions (>1000 μg N2O-N m−2 day−1) coming with nitrification of ammonium-N present in soil below 60% WFPS. Carbon efficiency ratio was highest (48.1) from SBT-furoate treatment under conventional tillage. The nitrification inhibitors used in the study increased yield of wheat, reduced global warming potential by 8.9–19.5% over urea treatment and may be used to mitigate N2O emission.