Application of nitrification inhibitor on soil to reduce NH3 and N2O emission after slurry spreading

Manure spreading is one of the main source of ammonia (NH3) emissions in the livestock sector, which is responsible of the 75 % of anthropogenic NH3 losses. For liquid manure, the most effective distribution technique to abate NH3 emissions is direct injection, which allows for a NH3 emission abatement up to 90 %. Nonetheless, direct injection has been shown to potentially increase, under certain environmental conditions, nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from soil after slurry spreading. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of the commercial nitrification inhibitor N-Lock^TM (CORTEVA^TM agriscience) on NH3 and N2O emissions after spreading of two different slurry types. The product was tested in a field trial on two different soils (loam and sandy-loam) and in combination with two different types of manure (cattle slurry and digestate). The N-Lock^TM product appears to have a good potential for N2O emission reduction from fields after slurry spreading with direct injection techniques. Nonetheless, proper emission abatements (up to 79 %) were obtained only in one of the two soils included in the study and N-Lock^TM efficiency differed depending also on slurry type.