Measurement of N2, N2O, NO, and CO2 emissions from soil with the gas-flow-soil-core technique

Here we describe a newly designed system with three stand-alone working incubation vessels for simultaneous measurements of N(2), N(2)O, NO, and CO(2) emissions from soil. Due to the use of a new micro thermal conductivity detector and the redesign of vessels and gas sampling a so-far unmatched sensitivity (0.23 μg N(2)-N h(-1) kg(-1) ds or 8.1 μg N(2)-N m(-2) h(-1)) for detecting N(2) gas emissions and repeatability of experiments could be achieved. We further tested different incubation methods to improve the quantification of N(2) emission via denitrification following the initialization of soil anaerobiosis. The best results with regard to the establishment of a full N balance (i.e., the changes in mineral N content being offset by simultaneous emission of N gases) were obtained when the anaerobic soil incubation at 25 °C was preceded by soil gas exchange under aerobic conditions at a lower incubation temperature. The ratios of N and C gas emission changed very dynamically following the initialization of anaerobiosis. For soil NO(3)(-) contents of 50 mg N kg(-1) dry soil (ds) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations of approximately 300 mg C kg(-1) ds, the cumulative emissions of N(2), N(2)O, and NO were 24.3 ± 0.1, 12.6 ± 0.4, and 10.1 ± 0.3 mg N kg(-1) ds, respectively. Thus, N gas emissions accounted (on average) for 46.2% (N(2)), 24.0% (N(2)O), and 19.2% (NO) of the observed changes in soil NO(3)(-). The maximum N(2) emission reached 1200 μg N h(-1) kg(-1) ds, whereas the peak emissions of N(2)O and NO were lower by a factor of 2-3. The overall N(2):N(2)O and NO:N(2)O molar ratios were 1.6-10.0 and 1.6-2.3, respectively. The measurement system provides a reliable tool for studying denitrification in soil because it offers insights into the dynamics and magnitude of gaseous N emissions due to denitrification under various incubation conditions.