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Environmental Sciences
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A study of environmental and

management drivers of non-CO2
greenhouse gas emissions in Australian
agro-ecosystems
a

I. Galbally , M. Meyer , S. Bentley , I. Weeks , R. Leuning ,

b

K. Kelly , F. Phillips , F. Barker-Reid , W. Gates , R. Baigent

b

, R. Eckard & P. Grace

a

CSIRO Atmospheric Research, & CRC for Greenhouse Accounting

Primary Industries Research Victoria, & CRC for Greenhouse

Accounting
c

Queensland University of Technology, & CRC for Greenhouse

Accouning
Published online: 16 Feb 2007.

To cite this article: I. Galbally , M. Meyer , S. Bentley , I. Weeks , R. Leuning , K. Kelly , F. Phillips ,
F. Barker-Reid , W. Gates , R. Baigent , R. Eckard & P. Grace (2005) A study of environmental
and management drivers of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Australian agro-ecosystems,
Environmental Sciences, 2:2-3, 133-142, DOI: 10.1080/15693430500395396
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15693430500395396

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Environmental Sciences
June-September 2005; 2(2-3): 133 142

A study of environmental and management drivers

of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Australian
agro-ecosystems

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I. GALBALLY1, M. MEYER1, S. BENTLEY1, I. WEEKS1, R. LEUNING1,

K. KELLY2, F. PHILLIPS2, F. BARKER-REID2, W. GATES2, R. BAIGENT2,
R. ECKARD2, & P. GRACE3
1

CSIRO Atmospheric Research, & CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, 2Primary Industries Research
Victoria, & CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, and 3Queensland University of Technology, & CRC for
Greenhouse Accouning

Abstract
Australian climate, soils and agricultural management practices are significantly different from those of
the northern hemisphere nations. Consequently, experimental data on greenhouse gas production from
European and North American agricultural soils and its interpretation are unlikely to be directly
applicable to Australian systems. A programme of studies of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from
agriculture has been established that is designed to reduce uncertainty of non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions in the Australian National Greenhouse Gas Inventory and provide outputs that will enable
better on-farm management practices for reducing non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, particularly
nitrous oxide. The systems being examined and their locations are irrigated pasture (Kyabram Victoria),
irrigated cotton (Narrabri, NSW), irrigated maize (Griffith, NSW), rain-fed wheat (Rutherglen,
Victoria) and rain-fed wheat (Cunderdin, WA). The field studies include treatments with and without
fertilizer addition, stubble burning versus stubble retention, conventional cultivation versus direct
drilling and crop rotation to determine emission factors and treatment possibilities for best management
options. The data to date suggest that nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen fertilizer, applied to
irrigated dairy pastures and rain-fed winter wheat, appear much lower than the average of northern
hemisphere grain and pasture studies. More variable emissions have been found in studies of irrigated
cotton/vetch/wheat rotation and substantially higher emissions from irrigated maize.

Keywords: Greenhouse gas emissions, national inventory, agriculture, best management practices,
nitrous oxide, IPCC, UNFCCC

1. Introduction
One of the major issues facing humanity today is the prospect of human-induced climate
change. As an international response to that issue a scientific forum was formed, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, and an international treaty, the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) available at http://
unfccc.int/resource/conv/index.html. As part of the UNFCCC and with the help of the

Correspondence: I. Galbally, CSIRO Atmospheric Research, & CRC for Greenhouse Accounting. E-mail: Ian.Galbally@csiro.au
ISSN 1569-3430 print/ISSN 1744-4225 online 2005 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/15693430500395396

134

I. Galbally et al.

IPCC, the Parties to the Convention prepare and communicate national inventories of their
greenhouse gas emissions. The Australian national greenhouse gas inventory (NGGI) is
prepared by the Australian Greenhouse Office and is available on line (AGO 2005).
Agriculture is one of the sources of these greenhouse gases through microbial, plant and
animal activities. This paper examines the role of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) that
is emitted from soils following nitrogenous (N) fertilizer addition and other agricultural
practices (Penman et al. 2000). Agricultural non-CO2 emissions in Australia most probably
differ substantially from standard emissions based on northern hemisphere measurements
due to differences in climate, soils and farm management practices, and hence the actual onfarm measurement of emissions is important to a defensible emissions inventory.

2. The national greenhouse gas inventory and the role of fertilizers

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2.1. How N2O emissions are calculated in the Australian NGGI

In the method adopted by Australia (NGGI 2004), an N2O emission is calculated for each of
the direct processes of fertilizer, and animal waste addition to the soil. An allowance is also
made for the difference between the emissions from unfertilized farmland and the natural
emissions that would occur from this land in the absence of farming activity. The residual
emission from cropland is presumably due to the combined effects of: soil disturbance which
leads to the breakdown of soil organic matter and the release of nitrogen into its mineral form,
the build-up of nitrogen in the soil from nitrogen-rich crop residues from previously fertilized
crops and fertilizer nitrogen that was immobilized following application to previous crops and
legumes.
2.1.1. N2O emissions from soil disturbance. The method used involves the area under a
particular land use (crops or improved pasture) and the emissions from the unfertilized soil
under this land use minus the emissions from this soil system in its undisturbed natural state.
The general form of the relationship is:
TOTALsd A
Ep  En
C
106

where:
TOTALsd annual emission of the gas from soil disturbance by land use (Gg)
A area of land use (ha)
Ep emission rate of the gas from unfertilized cultivated soil (kg N ha71 yr71)
En emission rate of the gas from the undisturbed ecosystem (kg N ha71 yr71)
C factor to convert elemental mass of the gas to its molecular mass.
There have been several studies in Australia where N2O emissions have been measured on
undisturbed natural ecosystems and on similar land converted to farming (Khalil et al. 1990,
Galbally et al. 1994, Meyer et al. 1996, Galbally et al. 1996). The difference in annual
emissions between the cultivated land (unfertilized and ungrazed) and the natural ecosystem
is the emission due to land disturbance. The data available from these studies are presented in
Table I. The N2O emission rate for unfertilized cultivated lands of 0.4 kg N ha71 yr71
observed in Australia is less than the mean value of 1.1 kg N ha71 yr71 but similar to the
median value of 0.6 kg N ha71 yr71 that is derived by Bouwman et al. (2002) from 846
studies primarily in the northern hemisphere. The difference probably arises because these

Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Australian agro-ecosystems

135

Table I. Effects of land disturbance on N2O emissions from soil (Khalil et al. 1990; Galbally et al. 1994;
Galbally et al. 1996; Meyer et al. 1996; Meyer et al. 2001).

Undisturbed
system
Mallee (Bambill Sth)
Forest (Boola
Boola, Wombat)

Undisturbed
system emission
(kg N ha71 yr71)

Cultivated unfertilized
system

0.21
0.16

Wheat (Bambill Sth)

Pasture Wagga Wagga

Cultivated
unfertilized system Soil disturbance
emission
emission
(kg N ha71 yr71) (kg N ha71 yr71)
0.47
0.41

0.26
0.25

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Australian cultivated soils are generally lower in nitrogen content than many of the soils of
North America and Europe.
2.1.2. N2O emissions from fertilizer and animal waste addition. The method used to estimate
N2O emissions from fertilizer use or animal waste applications utilizes the standard equation
equating the N2O emission to the total amount of nitrogen applied times an emission factor
appropriate to the nitrogen-containing compounds applied times a conversion factor that
converts the mass of N to a mass of N2O (IPCC 1997, Penman et al. 2000, NGGI 2004). It is
assumed that the intensity of the fertilizer addition (mass of fertilizer nitrogen applied per unit
area fertilized) does not significantly affect the outcome of this calculation (within reasonable
bounds). The work of Bouwman et al. (2002) suggests that there may be refinements that can
be made to this assumption. The emission factor is defined as the quotient from (1) the mass
of N contained in N2O emissions that result from the N addition divided by (2) the mass of N
contained in the N addition.
An analysis of the available, primarily Northern Hemisphere, data suggests an emission
factor of 1.25% + 1%, which encompasses the direct contribution to N2O emission of the
applied N in approximately 90% of experiments. This emission factor is the IPCC default
value and is used in the Australian NGGI for mineral N fertilizer. A local emission factor of
0.4% is used in the Australian NGGI for animal urine and other emission factors are used for
other forms of animal waste.
The emission factors for fertilizer addition to crops and pastures have been reviewed by
Bouwman et al. (2002), and independently for this project. We have stratified this data set for
the current study using the following selection criteria: (a) the crop is a cereal for grain
production; (b) the fertilizer is an inorganic nitrogen type (ammonium, nitrate or urea); (c) no
nitrification inhibiters are applied; and (d) the length of the measurement period exceeds 100
days. This reduces the data set to 56 studies with mean and median emission factors of 1.5%
and 1.0% respectively, and a frequency distribution that has a range from a minimum of 0.1%
to a maximum of 8%, thus not significantly different from the IPCC default value. Most of the
measurements are from northern Europe, Canada, and USA, the majority (80%) were
fertilized with ammonium nitrate fertilizers and the soil textures ranged from sandy loam to
clay. These conditions are not representative of either Australian climate, soils, fertilizer or
agricultural practices. Consequently, in the estimated emissions of N2O from fertilizers for
Australia made using the IPCC default emission factor there is an uncertainty factor of
approximately 2, which arises primarily from the uncertainty in the set of emission factors.
Locally measured emission factors would be preferable. Similar issues apply to the estimated
emissions of N2O from animal waste.

136

I. Galbally et al.

2.3. Growth of emissions of N2O from agriculture

There has been more than a doubling of N fertilizer usage in Australia since 1990.
Consequently N2O emissions from fertilizer are the most rapidly growing aspect of Australias
national greenhouse gas emissions (AGO, 2005). Total emissions from agricultural soils have
increased by 29% from 1990 to 2002 (NGGI 2004). Around 70% of N fertilizer usage is on
cereal crops. Of animal waste in Australia, more than 90% is voided onto pasture because of
the low use of feedlots. Thus the priority for this study has been N fertilizer addition to grains
and animal urine addition to pasture systems.

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3. The CRC project

As an initial guide to this study, the spatial distribution of N2O emissions from agriculture in
Australia were calculated according to the current inventory methodology, using a default
emission factor of 1.25% for N fertilizer and a local emission factor of 0.4% for animal urine,
and are presented in Figure 1. The inventory methodology has been applied at the statistical
local area (SLA) level. As is expected, the major regions of N2O emissions are in the
agricultural regions of eastern and south-western Australia. The five sites for the CRC study
are located as follows. Four of the sites are in the eastern zone with estimated regional
agricultural emissions either 0.5 to 1 or 41 kg N ha71 yr71. These are Kyabram Victoria
(irrigated pasture), Narrabri, NSW (irrigated cotton), Griffith, NSW (irrigated maize), and
Rutherglen, Victoria (rain-fed wheat). The other site at Cunderdin, WA (rain-fed wheat) is in
the south-western region with estimated regional agricultural emissions 0.5 to 1 kg N ha71
yr71. The Cunderdin site commenced recently and is not discussed further.
As well as conducting emission measurements, the CRC Project is examining a range of
experimental techniques to measure N2O emissions, other field and laboratory studies on N2O
emissions, modelling of these N2O emissions and development of potential best management
practices for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from pasture and cropping systems.

Figure 1. The national distribution of N2O emissions from cultivation, fertilizer addition, animal waste and
agricultural waste burning estimated using the NGGI inventory methodology, the IPCC default emission factor of
1.25% for nitrogen fertilizers and 0.4% for animal urine deposited on pasture. Units kg N ha71 yr71.

Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Australian agro-ecosystems

137

4. The field studies

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4.1. Kyabram: irrigated grazed pasture

Grazed irrigated pasture systems in south-eastern Australia have high N input to the pasture
as urine and dung as well as nitrogen fertilizers and are likely to generate significant N2O
emissions. This experiment is located on an established (23-year-old) perennial pasture at the
Department of Primary Industries, Kyabram (36.38S, 145.18E) in the Goulburn Valley
irrigation area of northern Victoria. The pasture was sown to a mixture of perennial ryegrass
(Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.), with paspalum (Paspalum dilatatum
Poir.) having invaded over time. Pastures are irrigated as required based on a schedule of
cumulative water deficit of evaporation less rainfall. An irrigation event plus subsequent
surface water runoff takes 32 to 34 h. The soil is a red-brown earth or yellow/red sodosol.
Pastures are grazed with a herd of approximately 300 dairy cattle on a rotational basis with the
grazing interval ranging for about 60 days in winter to 21 days in spring/summer.
Emission measurements were made with two techniques. A micrometeorological technique
involving the flux-gradient method was used to determine N2O emissions over the wider
paddock. Chambers were used to determine fluxes from specific treatments. The chamber
system comprises a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer linked directly to six
automated chambers (Meyer et al. 2001). Fluxes of N2O, carbon dioxide, methane, and
carbon monoxide are monitored.
The chamber experiment design comprises three treatments by three replicated blocks.
Two automated enclosure chambers are allocated to each treatment, and each chamber has
two chamber bases located within 2 m of each other, with the chambers alternated between
the two bases twice weekly. All obvious dung and urine patches were avoided in the placement
of equipment and soil sampling. The treatments are:
.
.
.

control (no addition of N fertilizer or urine);

addition of N fertilizer (urea) applied three times annually at a rate of 50 kg N ha71
application;
addition of fresh dairy cattle urine applied at a rate of approximately 1000 kg N ha71
application (Feb 04, Dec 04).

Data from the enclosure chamber/FTIR system has been routinely collected since August
2003. Half-hourly N2O fluxes ranged for 0 1000 ng N m72 s71. Fluxes increase 2 3 days
after irrigation and remain high for 1 2 days before returning to lower levels before the next
irrigation. These data when combined with soil water data indicate high fluxes occur over a
very narrow range of soil water content and highlight the need for high frequency flux analysis
to given an accurate measure of fluxes. Application of urea resulted in high flux rates
compared to the control for the first irrigation event following the application, but the increase
was not observed for subsequent irrigations. This pattern was repeated for the six fertilizer
events measured to date. An application of urine resulted in significantly higher fluxes over
the next 2 3 months at all soil water contents. After 1 4 months flux rates have returned to
levels similar to the control, dependent on the time of application. Preliminary estimates of
annual N2O flux suggest 1.0 1.2 kg N ha71 yr71 was derived from the control. The
application of urea at 50 kg N ha71, six times over a two year period increased flux by about
1.4 kg N ha71 yr71. Two applications, each of approximately 1000 kg N ha71 as cow urine
increased flux by about 9.0 kg N ha71 yr71.
The micrometeorological site has been operating since July 2003 observing the wider
paddock as grazed under current management practices. The micrometeorological system has

138

I. Galbally et al.

observed a similar pattern in N2O emissions as the chambers, with an increase in flux 2 3 days
following irrigation, staying high for 1 2 days, and returning to background levels as soil
moisture decreases. The impact of soil temperature is also evident with an increase in the
magnitude of the flux in summer compared with winter regardless of high soil moisture or input
of nitrogen. From daily averaged fluxes available for 308 days for the 2003 2004 year (July to
June) an annual N2O flux from the wider paddock of 3.7 kg N ha71 yr71 has been estimated.

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4.2. Rutherglen: winter wheat

This experiment is being conducted within a long-term (23-year) tillage experiment at
Rutherglen in south-east Australia (Latitude 36.18S, Longitude 146.58E). The complete
experiment is described in the paper by Barker-Reid et al. (2005). Average annual
temperatures range from 21.78C (daily maximum) to 7.48C (daily minimum), with summer
(January) daily average maxima exceeding 318C and winter (July) daily average minima being
28C. Average annual rainfall is 598 mm. The experimental site is situated on an ancient
alluvial terrace landform having *1 3% slopes trending south-west. The soils on the site
grade from mottled or bleached sodic, eutrophic, yellow or brown dermosols. Three
management practices are being investigated:
.
.
.

conventional cultivation, stubble burned, no N fertilizer applied (CC 7 N);

conventional cultivation, stubble burned, N fertilizer applied (CC N); and
direct drilled, stubble retained, N fertilizer applied (DD N).

Each management practice was replicated for a total of six experimental plots (4.25 6 20 m).
Within each plot, two chamber bases (0.8 m 6 0.8 m 6 10 cm depth) were installed so that
one chamber could alternate its position between the two bases. All plots were sown to wheat.
Emission measurements commenced in March 2004. All sampling equipment was
removed from the site after 16 April 2004 and stubble burning occurred on 19 April 2004.
Cultivation of plots occurred in mid-May and wheat (Triticum aestivum, cultivar Diamondbird)
was sown on 21 May 2004. The emission measurements recommenced by the end of May.
Granulated urea was applied post-emergence in a split application: 55.2 kg N ha71 applied at
first-node stage on 8 September and 27.6 kg N ha71 at booting growth stage, 27 September
2004, to minimize N deficiency and to maximize grain protein levels respectively.
Measurements ceased on 21 March 2005 to permit stubble burning in preparation for the
2005 cropping season. The cultivation (direct drill, stubble retained) and fertilization (splitapplied urea broadcast post-emergence) treatments used reflect best management practices
promoted in south-eastern Australia. Stubble burning and single application of fertilizer preemergence remain conventional practices in the region.
This winter wheat crop grows and is harvested between late autumn (May) and early
summer (December) and is followed by 5 months of fallow. During the long hot and dry
fallow period, mineralization of previous crop residues and soil organic matter leads to a
buildup of soil mineral N. This soil N both feeds the newly planted crop, but is also lost in
summer, autumn and early winter rains when the combination of warm soils and high mineral
N loads promotes significant denitrification and N2O emissions. As the newly planted crop
grows, it draws down the soil mineral N levels and then after emergence, fertilizer N is applied
to meet crop N demand for growth and grain production. This N fertilizer addition happens
in late winter and early spring when soils are cooler and plant N demand is high, thus
minimizing N loss from denitrification and minimizing N2O emissions. To account properly
for N loss and N2O emissions the measurements of emissions from both the crop and the

Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Australian agro-ecosystems

139

fallow period need to be considered. The preliminary results from Rutherglen winter wheat
are presented in Table II. Because the N applications are matched to plant demand and made
in cool conditions, total N losses and N2O emissions are low by world standards and the
emission factor in Table II is among the lowest observed (Bouwman et al. 2002).

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4.3. Griffith: irrigated maize

The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area is a major centre for irrigated maize production in
Australia. The experimental site is a commercial maize property at Whitton, NSW (34.58S
146.28E) near Griffith in Central West of NSW. This region receives an average rainfall of
406 mm yr71. Average monthly temperature maxima and minima range from 31.38C and
16.48C respectively in February to 14.38C and 2.98C respectively in July. The soil at the
experimental site is a Mundiwa clay loam that consisted of a brown sandy clay loam to 0.2 m,
a dark reddish-brown heavy clay to 0.6 m and a mottled yellow red clay to 1.7 m.
Maize is sown as a row crop. Following a long fallow from the previous harvest, the beds are
reformed in late September with 100 kg N ha71 as urea incorporated into the bed. Maize is
sown in early October. Irrigation commences at sowing and continues throughout the
growing season at intervals of 10 14 days as required. Approximately 4 weeks after sowing a
second application of nitrogen is applied at a rate of 200 kg N ha71. Irrigations continue until
the crop reaches physiological maturity in early March. Harvest occurs typically in mid to late
April. Following harvest the remaining stubble is typically removed by burning, or, less
commonly, by mulching and incorporation into the soil and a fallow occurs until October.
This experiment was conducted on a site already established for 5 years, used to investigate
the interactions between nitrogen and stubble retention on soil carbon and nitrogen
dynamics. The fluxes of N2O and CO2 were measured on three of the established treatments:
.
.
.

0N fertilizer application and stubble removed by burning;

300 kg N ha71, stubble removed by burning; and
300 kg N ha71, stubble mulched and incorporated into the soil.

Table II. Preliminary estimates of N2O emission factors from four agricultural systems in Australia.
Annual application rates of fertilizer nitrogen in kg N ha71 are listed with the treatments.
Site

Crop

Treatment

Griffith, NSW

Irrigated maize

Kyabram, VIC

Irrigated dairy pasture

Rutherglen, VIC

Rain-fed wheat

Narrabri, NSW

Irrigated cotton (C)

in rotation with vetch
(V) and wheat (W)

Stubble burning 300N

Stubble retention 300N
Urine 1000N
Urea 150N
Conventional. cultivation
83N
Direct drilling 83N
(Rotation sequence)
CC 100N
CC 200N
WVC 100N
WVC 200N
WVC 300N
WC 100N
WC 200N

EF (%)
2.8
1.6
0.4 0.5
0.4 0.5
0.05 0.1

0.03
0.24
0.39
0.51
2.47
0.09
0.26

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140

I. Galbally et al.

Comparison between the first two treatments yields the N2O emissions associated with
nitrogen fertilizer addition while comparison between the second and third treatments yields
the effect of stubble retention of soil nitrogen loss as N2O.
Average daily N2O emissions during the fallow (3 ng N m72 s71) are similar to the
background emissions from unfertilized pasture and natural soils, with no significant
difference between treatments. Emission rates increased substantially following sowing. In
the unfertilized (control) treatment, emissions gradually declined through the cropping
stage to below the rates observed during the fallow. In the fertilized crop, the emissions
increased by factors of approximately 5 to 100 relative to the control, prior to and
following irrigation, respectively. Emissions were greater and more persistent in the
treatment where stubble was burned. Based on the first 10 months of measurements,
approximately 2.8% of applied N is lost as N2O in conventional irrigated maize (stubble
burning) production. Stubble incorporation after harvest reduces the loss to 1.6% N.
These loss rates are slightly higher than the international average emission factor for all
classes of crops, but are expected for high nitrogen, irrigated summer cropping on heavy
soils. There may be potential for reducing emissions by stubble management and careful
timing and placement of fertilizer.
4.4. Narrabri: irrigated cotton
A field monitoring programme was undertaken at the Australian Cotton Research Institute
(ACRI) at Narrabri in New South Wales during the 2003/04 and 2004/05 growing seasons.
Narrabri is at 30.38S 149.88E, with a mean average temperature of 19.38C, and mean annual,
summer dominant rainfall of 643 mm. The grey alkaline clay with a surface clay content of
56% is typical of the region and the treatments have an average soil organic carbon content in
the top 30 cm of 1.07%. The experiment was performed on two adjacent cotton fields in
continuous cotton and wheat vetch cotton rotations respectively. These were part of an
ongoing long-term rotation trial at ACRI. The only previously reported direct measurements
of N2O emissions from cotton soils in this region were by Grace et al. (2003) and suggested
emission factors that ranged from 0.2 1.53% of applied nitrogen. Irrigated cotton grown
on alkaline heavy clay soils often uses nitrogen fertilizers inefficiently, due largely to
denitrification.
Emission measurements of N2O and CO2 have been made using an automated closed
chamber technique (Butterbach-Bahl et al. 1997). After soil testing for mineral nitrogen
status in September 2003, the continuous cotton treatment received 140 kg N ha71 as
anhydrous ammonia, while the wheat vetch cotton treatment did not require additional
fertilizer. Cotton was sown on 26 September 2003. Four chambers were assigned to each
treatment and each placed 5 m apart along a single furrow. The 2003/04 experiment
consisted of two distinct sampling phases. An extensive phase from 27 September, 2003 to
23 January, 2004 and a short-term intensive sampling event from 23 January to
February 2, 2004. During the extensive sampling, emissions were entirely dependent on
normal agronomic procedures for irrigation and climatic conditions experienced during the
2003/04 cotton growing season. The purpose of the intensive sampling event was to mimic
the impact of a significant irrigation event immediately after application of 200 kg N ha71
(applied as either banded granular or water-run urea) on N2O emissions from these soils.
Three levels of fertilizer addition were used as well as the rotation to determine the factors
associated with the N2O emissions.

Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Australian agro-ecosystems

141

4.5. Emissions and emission factors

The preliminary emission factors observed from these experiments are in Table II. Emission
factors from 0.03 to 2.8% are observed. The irrigated cotton experiment indicates some
possible dependence of emission factor on nitrogen application rate.

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5. Conclusions
In Australia, N2O emissions from nitrogen fertilizer, applied to irrigated dairy pastures and
rain-fed winter wheat, appear much lower than the average from northern hemisphere grain
and pasture studies. More variable N2O emissions have been found in studies of irrigated
cotton/vetch/wheat rotation and substantially higher emissions from irrigated maize. The
Australian emission factors vary more widely than the 1.25% + 1.0% default value
recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is based
primarily on northern hemisphere grain and pasture studies. These results highlight the need
to use the local emission factors to estimate reliably emissions for the systems measured, and
for more local research into specific agricultural systems in Australia to develop a greater
understanding of management, climate and soil interactions on N2O emissions profiles and
their applicability to different regions of Australian agriculture.

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