Root-derived respiration and nitrous oxide production as affected by crop phenology and nitrogen fertilization

In annual crops, the partitioning of photosynthates to support root growth, respiration and rhizodeposition should be greater during early development than in later reproductive stages due to source/sink relationships in the plant. Therefore, seasonal fluctuations in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) production from roots and root-associated soil may be related to resource partitioning by the crop. Greenhouse studies used ¹³C and ¹⁵N stable isotopes to evaluate the carbon (C) partitioning and nitrogen (N) uptake by corn and soybean. We also measured the CO₂ and N₂O production from planted pots as affected by crop phenology and N fertilization. Specific root-derived respiration was related to the ¹³C allocated to roots and was greatest during early vegetative growth. Root-derived respiration and rhizodeposition were greater for corn than soybean. The ¹⁵N uptake by corn increased between vegetative growth, tasseling and milk stages, but the ¹⁵N content in soybean was not affected by phenology. A peak in N₂O production was observed with corn at the milk stage, suggesting that the corn rhizosphere supported microbial communities that produced N₂O. Most of the ¹⁵N-NO₃ applied to soybean was not taken up by the plant and negative N₂O production during vegetative growth and floral initiation stages suggests that soybean roots supported the reduction of N₂O to dinitrogen (N₂). We conclude that crop phenology and soil N availability exert important controls on rhizosphere processes, leading to temporal variation in CO₂ and N₂O production.