EffectofReplacementofHeadspaceGasonN2OandCO2EmissionsinAnaerobicIncubationofSoil

To study effect of C2H2 and change of headspace gas on N2O emission, denitrification, as well as CO2emission, slumes of an agricultural soil were anaerobically incubated for 7 da3's at 25 ℃. Both N2O reduction and CO2 emissions were inhibited by the addition of 100 mL L-1 of C2H2. However, the inhibition to CO2 emission was alleviated by the replacement of headspace gas, and the N2O emission was enhanced by the replacement. Acetylene disappeared evidently from the soil slumes during the incubation. Consequently results obtained from the traditional C2H2 blocking technique for determination of denitrification rate, especially in a long-time incubation, should be explained with care because of its side effect existing in the incubation environments without change of headspace gas. To reduce the possible side effect on the processes other than denitrification, it is suggested that headspace gas should be replaced several times during a long-time incubation.