Sources and priming of nitrous oxide production across a range of moisture contents in a soil with high organic matter

Abstract Adding nitrogen fertilizers to agricultural soils contributes to increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) in the atmosphere. However, the impacts of N addition on soil organic matter (SOM) turnover, SOM availability, and the ensuing SOM‐derived N 2 O emissions remain elusive. Within this context, the net change in direction and rate of SOM‐derived N 2 O production triggered by added N is termed the N 2 O priming effect. This incubation study examined the sources and priming of N 2 O production as a function of urea addition and multiple moisture contents in a soil with high SOM (55 g organic C kg −1 ). We assessed four water‐filled pore space (WFPS) conditions: 28, 40, 52, and 64%. Relative to controls receiving no N, urea addition increased N 2 O production by 2.6 times ( P < .001). Cumulative N 2 O production correlated well with nitrification rates ( r = .75; P = .03). We used 15 N‐labeled urea to trace the added urea into N 2 O. Of the N added via urea, the recovery as N 2 O–N shifted from 0.02 to 0.17% when WFPS increased from 28 to 64% ( P < .05). We also partitioned the N 2 O production into urea vs. SOM sources. More N 2 O was sourced from SOM than urea, with 59 ± 2% N 2 O originating from SOM. The magnitude of SOM‐derived N 2 O under urea was larger than that of the control, revealing that positive N 2 O priming was triggered by urea addition. Upon subtracting the controls, the primed N 2 O was a consistent 19 ± 2% of the total N 2 O produced by urea‐amended soils. Nevertheless, the priming magnitude rose sharply with increasing moisture by more than one order of magnitude from 4 to 48 μg N 2 O–N kg −1 soil and in exponential mode ( R 2 = .98). Soil moisture, SOM, and nitrification interacted to drive the sources and priming of N 2 O.