Intensive slurry management and climate change promote nitrogen mining from organic matter-rich montane grassland soils

Abstract

Aims Consequences of climate change and land use intensification on the nitrogen (N) cycle of organic-matter rich grassland soils in the alpine region remain poorly understood. We aimed to identify fates of fertilizer N and to determine the overall N balance of an organic-matter rich grassland in the European alpine region as influenced by intensified management and warming. Methods We combined 15 N cattle slurry labelling with a space for time climate change experiment, which was based on translocation of intact plant-soil mesocosms down an elevational gradient to induce warming of +1 °C and + 3 °C. Mesocosms were subject to either extensive or intensive management. The fate of slurry-N was traced in the plant-soil system. Results Grassland productivity was very high (8.2 t - 19.4 t dm ha −1 yr −1 ), recovery of slurry 15 N in mowed plant biomass was, however, low (9.6–14.7%), illustrating low fertilizer N use efficiency and high supply of plant available N via mineralization of soil organic matter (SOM). Higher 15 N recovery rates (20.2–31.8%) were found in the soil N pool, dominated by recovery in unextractable N. Total 15 N recovery was approximately half of the applied tracer, indicating substantial loss to the environment. Overall, high N export by harvest (107–360 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ) markedly exceeded N inputs, leading to a negative grassland N balance. Conclusions Here provided results suggests a risk of soil N mining in montane grasslands, which increases both under climate change and land use intensification.

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