Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions
Quantitative greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets for Mediterranean pepper cultivation are still missing, limiting evidence-based nitrogen management. Furthermore, mitigation value of fertigation respect to granular fertilization in vegetable systems remains uncertain. This study therefore compared the GHG...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Antonio Manco Matteo Giaccone Luca Vitale Giuseppe Maglione Maria Riccardi Bruno Di Matteo Andrea Esposito Vincenzo Magliulo Anna Tedeschi |
| author_facet | Antonio Manco Matteo Giaccone Luca Vitale Giuseppe Maglione Maria Riccardi Bruno Di Matteo Andrea Esposito Vincenzo Magliulo Anna Tedeschi |
| author_sort | Antonio Manco |
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| description | Quantitative greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets for Mediterranean pepper cultivation are still missing, limiting evidence-based nitrogen management. Furthermore, mitigation value of fertigation respect to granular fertilization in vegetable systems remains uncertain. This study therefore compared the GHG footprint and productivity of ‘papaccella’ pepper under two nitrogen fertilization methods: granular fertilization versus low-frequency fertigation with urea, each supplying about 63 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup>. Eight automated static chambers coupled to a cavity ring-down spectrometer monitored soil CO<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes throughout the season. Cumulative emissions did not differ between treatments (CO<sub>2</sub>: 811 ± 6 g m<sup>−2</sup> vs. 881 ± 4 g m<sup>−2</sup>; N<sub>2</sub>O: 0.038 ± 0.008 g m<sup>−2</sup> vs. 0.041 ± 0.015 g m<sup>−2</sup>, fertigation vs. granular), and marketable yield remained at ~11 t ha<sup>−1</sup>, leaving product-scaled global warming potential (GWP) unchanged. Although representing less than 2% of measured fluxes, “hot moments,” burst emissions exceeding four standard deviations (SD) from the mean, accounted for up to 4% of seasonal CO<sub>2</sub> and 19% of N<sub>2</sub>O. Fertigation doubled the frequency of these events but reduced their peak magnitude, whereas granular application produced fewer but more extreme bursts (>11 SD). Results showed that fertigation did not mitigate GHGs emission nor improve productivity for Mediterranean pepper, mainly due to the low application frequency and the use of a urea fertilizer. Moreover, we can highlight that in horticultural systems, omitting ‘hot moments’ leads to systematic underestimation of emissions. |
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| series | Horticulturae |
| spelling | doaj-art-d9b85d8c6f6e4afba2b4b8d9eabf407a2025-06-25T13:55:51ZengMDPI AGHorticulturae2311-75242025-06-0111670810.3390/horticulturae11060708Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs EmissionsAntonio Manco0Matteo Giaccone1Luca Vitale2Giuseppe Maglione3Maria Riccardi4Bruno Di Matteo5Andrea Esposito6Vincenzo Magliulo7Anna Tedeschi8Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for the Animal Production System in the Mediterranean Environment (ISPAAM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean (ISAFoM), National Research Council of Italy, P. le Enrico Fermi 1, Loc. Porto del Granatello, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyInstitute of Biosciences and Bioresources (IBBR), National Research Council of Italy, Research Division Portici, Via Università 133, Portici, 80055 Naples, ItalyQuantitative greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets for Mediterranean pepper cultivation are still missing, limiting evidence-based nitrogen management. Furthermore, mitigation value of fertigation respect to granular fertilization in vegetable systems remains uncertain. This study therefore compared the GHG footprint and productivity of ‘papaccella’ pepper under two nitrogen fertilization methods: granular fertilization versus low-frequency fertigation with urea, each supplying about 63 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup>. Eight automated static chambers coupled to a cavity ring-down spectrometer monitored soil CO<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes throughout the season. Cumulative emissions did not differ between treatments (CO<sub>2</sub>: 811 ± 6 g m<sup>−2</sup> vs. 881 ± 4 g m<sup>−2</sup>; N<sub>2</sub>O: 0.038 ± 0.008 g m<sup>−2</sup> vs. 0.041 ± 0.015 g m<sup>−2</sup>, fertigation vs. granular), and marketable yield remained at ~11 t ha<sup>−1</sup>, leaving product-scaled global warming potential (GWP) unchanged. Although representing less than 2% of measured fluxes, “hot moments,” burst emissions exceeding four standard deviations (SD) from the mean, accounted for up to 4% of seasonal CO<sub>2</sub> and 19% of N<sub>2</sub>O. Fertigation doubled the frequency of these events but reduced their peak magnitude, whereas granular application produced fewer but more extreme bursts (>11 SD). Results showed that fertigation did not mitigate GHGs emission nor improve productivity for Mediterranean pepper, mainly due to the low application frequency and the use of a urea fertilizer. Moreover, we can highlight that in horticultural systems, omitting ‘hot moments’ leads to systematic underestimation of emissions.https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/11/6/708CO<sub>2</sub> soil fluxesN<sub>2</sub>O soil fluxeshot momentssoil chambersnitrogen fertilization |
| spellingShingle | Antonio Manco Matteo Giaccone Luca Vitale Giuseppe Maglione Maria Riccardi Bruno Di Matteo Andrea Esposito Vincenzo Magliulo Anna Tedeschi Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions Horticulturae CO<sub>2</sub> soil fluxes N<sub>2</sub>O soil fluxes hot moments soil chambers nitrogen fertilization |
| title | Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions |
| title_full | Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions |
| title_fullStr | Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions |
| title_short | Comparative Effects of Nitrogen Fertigation and Granular Fertilizer Application on Pepper Yield and Soil GHGs Emissions |
| title_sort | comparative effects of nitrogen fertigation and granular fertilizer application on pepper yield and soil ghgs emissions |
| topic | CO<sub>2</sub> soil fluxes N<sub>2</sub>O soil fluxes hot moments soil chambers nitrogen fertilization |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/11/6/708 |
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