Climate Change Factsheet – Nitrous Oxide Emissions

Plants, including crops, take up nitrogen from the soil through their roots. Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for all plants and is the most needed for plant growth, so farmers typically apply additional nitrogen to increase productivity. Most agronomic crop yields, including important species like corn and cotton, benefit from this added nitrogen. Nitrous oxide emissions are generally driven by rain events, when the soils become saturated, through the natural process of denitrification. After fertilization it is normal to see some nitrous oxide emissions, however, the magnitude of these losses can be significantly reduced when nitrogen is applied at rates aligned with crop nitrogen requirements. Wise agronomic use of nitrogen reduces nitrous oxide emissions.

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