High resolution short-term investigation of soil CO₂, N₂O, NO_x and NH₃ emissions after different chabazite zeolite amendments

Reducing the effects of climate change is a key-point to achieve sustainable development. It is known that fertilizer application stimulates soil gaseous N losses, especially immediately after their application. In this short-term incubation experiment, the effects of different chabazite zeolite amendments on soil gaseous emissions (CO₂, N₂O, NO_x and NH₃) were evaluated in high resolution as potential mitigation strategy for agricultural soils. Different soil-zeolite mixtures, including both natural and NH₄ ⁺-enriched chabazite zeolites, were incubated for 24 h both immediately after the application of urea fertilizer and without a further N input in order to carry out a high resolution investigation of soil CO₂, N₂O, NO_x and NH₃ fluxes, in comparison to an unamended soil. Immediate CO₂, N₂O, NO_x and especially NH₃ emissions after fertilizer application were generally reduced in soils amended with zeolites at natural state, indicating a potential valuable material for reducing soil C-N gaseous losses. On the other hand, the application of NH₄ ⁺-enriched zeolites lowered CO₂ and N₂O emissions, but very high NO_x fluxes occurred during the first 24 h even without applying any further N input. NH₃ emissions were higher in NH₄ ⁺-enriched zeolites amended soil, but if the amendment is performed without further N inputs, the emissions can be significantly lowered with respect to a conventional urea fertilization.