Presenter: Márton Dencső, Department of Soil Physics and Water Management

Human activity greatly influences terrestrial biogeochemical cycles, which play a decisive role in maintaining and regulating the balance of wildlife. Today, many researchers have the objective of understanding the processes of carbon and nitrogen cycles as accurately as possible, as they play a major role in the evolution of global climate change. The most important atmospheric component of the nitrogen cycle in this respect is N2O. N2O is present in the atmosphere at concentrations of less than 0.3 ppm (324 ppb in 2011) than CO2, yet it is a more potent greenhouse gas due to its higher residence and relatively high energy absorption capacity. Microbiological processes, nitrification and denitrification are predominantly responsible for the release of N2O from soils, which can be governed by different soil environment parameters.

In 2019, we performed laboratory N2O emission measurements on a test basis. During the tests, column experiments were set up with different doses of fertilizer used outdoors. We monitored soil N2O emissions before and after fertilization from compressed and undisturbed samples. The experience of the lab measurements provided a good starting point for the planning of future TAKI field studies.