Title: A practice to mitigate greenhouse gases from a wheat-grown soil by the phosphogypsum waste

Authors: Hong-sheng Wu; Ji Zhou; Ji Li; Su-yun Chen; Zhi-qiu Gao; Li-dong Shen; Dong-liang Yao; Guang-yao Yang; Xiao-ling Ma; Kai-kai Chen; Cong Wang; Tian-huai Liao

Addresses: Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Shanghai Key Laboratory of Meteorology and Health, Yangtze River Delta Center for Environmental Meteorological Prediction and Warning, Shanghai, 20030, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' College of Geography and Remote Sensing, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China ' Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China

Abstract: A large amount of industrial phosphogypsum (Pg) waste pollutes the environment. The reuse of these waste resources in agriculture not only amended the soil and stimulated the crop growth but also decreased the soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A continuous two-year-field-experiment of the phosphogypsum application in winter wheat was conducted to investigate whether and how phosphogypsum affects soil N₂O and CO₂ emissions. A two-month lab incubation was also performed to explore the possible mechanism of Pg reducing GHGs. The results indicated that the soil CO₂ and N₂O was mitigated by the phosphogypsum. Compared to the control (Pg0), the soil N₂O emissions in the treatment phosphogypsum decreased by 5.8%-29.9% and the CO₂ emission decreased by 2.5%-6.6% in the winter wheat growing season of 2013-2014, while the N₂O emission decreased by 20.6%-30.4% and the CO₂ emission decreased by 6.2%-9.6% in 2014-2015. The N₂O emission declined by 18.9%-28.5% and the CO₂ emission declined by 33.5%-50.1% in the lab incubation. The unit weight grain/biomass CO₂ and N₂O emissions equivalents were reduced by the phosphogypsum. This result suggested that mitigating agricultural GHGs, stimulating crop growth and protecting the environment could be achieved simultaneously by the phosphogypsum.

Keywords: phosphogypsum; Pg; wheat; CO₂; N₂O; soil enzyme.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2018.093750

International Journal of Global Warming, 2018 Vol.15 No.4, pp.465 - 485

Received: 23 Jan 2017
Accepted: 17 Jul 2017
Published online: 03 Aug 2018 *

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