Accelerating the development of biological nitrification inhibition as a viable nitrous oxide mitigation strategy in grazed livestock systems

Abstract

This position paper summarizes the current understanding of biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) to identify research needs for accelerating the development of BNI as a N 2 O mitigation strategy for grazed livestock systems. We propose that the initial research focus should be on the systematic screening of agronomically desirable plants for their BNI potency and N 2 O reduction potential. This requires the development of in situ screening methods that can be combined with reliable N 2 O emission measurements and microbial and metabolomic analyses to confirm the selective inhibition of nitrification. As BNI-induced reductions in N 2 O emissions can occur by directly inhibiting nitrification, or via indirect effects on other N transformations, it is also important to measure gross N transformation rates to disentangle these direct and indirect effects. However, an equally important challenge will be to discern the apparent influence of soil N fertility status on the release of BNIs, particularly for more intensively managed grazing systems.

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