The effect of agriculture on methane oxidation in soil

Aerobic soils are an important sink for methane (CH4) contributing up to 15% of annual global CH4 destruction. However, the sink strength is significantly affected by land management, nitrogen (N) fertilizers and acidity. We tested these effects on samples taken from the Broadbalk Continuous Wheat, Park Grass permanent grassland and Broadbalk and Geescroft Wilderness experiments at Rothamsted. The rates of uptake from the atmosphere of both enhanced (10 ppmv) and ambient (2 ppmv) concentrations of CH4 were measured in laboratory incubations of soil cores under controlled conditions. The most rapid rates of uptake were measured in soil from deciduous woodland at pH 7 (measured in water); acidic (pH 4) woodland soil showed no net CH4 oxidation. While disturbance of the cores used in the experiments did not affect the rate of CH4 uptake, extended (150 years) cultivation of land for arable crops reduced uptake rate by 85% compared to that in the soil under calcareous woodland. The long-term application of ammonium-(NH4) based fertilizer, but not nitrate-(NO3) based fertilizer, completely inhibited CH4 uptake, but the application for the same period of farmyard manure that contained more N than the fertilizer had no inhibitory effect. Although the effects of agricultural practice on the oxidation of CH4 in soil are significant, the differences in oxidation rates between land use types are even greater. The likely effects of forest clearance, agricultural intensification and anthropogenic emissions of CH4 over the last 2500 years have been estimated for the United Kingdom. The calculations indicate that 54% of the current CH4 uptake by UK soils is the result of increased CH4 mixing ratio. They also indicate that land use change has decreased the potential sink strength by 62% or 37 kt CH4 g(-1). In countries with much larger land areas than the UK, such as China, aerobic soil is likely to be a more significant factor in calculating net fluxes of CH4. It is important that the impacts of different agricultural managements and land use systems are understood and quantified so that the best possible estimate of CH4 sinks is calculated for comparison with sources.