Short-term emissions of CO2 and N2O in response to periodic flood irrigation with waste water in the Mezquital Valley of Mexico

Irrigation with waste water adds labile carbon and nitrogen compounds to the soil, and when applied by flooding it rapidly changes the soil's atmosphere and redox potential. In the Mezquital Valley more than 90 000 ha is irrigated with waste water from Mexico City, and enhanced emissions of CO2 and N2O follow each flooding. We measured the emissions of these two gases from a field irrigated periodically with waste water and under three crops, namely alfalfa, rye-grass and maize, using static chambers for 21 months. We also measured emissions from a field growing rain-fed maize before and shortly after two rain events. The data from repeated measurements from the same chambers are correlated in time, and so we modelled the ante-dependence and fitted the models by residual maximum likelihood (REML). The emissions of both CO2 and N2O increased rapidly in response to flood irrigation with peaks up to 448 mg C m−2 hour−1 for CO2 and 2.98 mg N m−2 hour−1 for N2O under maize. Emissions peaked in particular irrigation events either as the infiltrating water replaced the gas from air-filled pores or several days after irrigation as excess nitrogen and fresh sources of carbon were mineralized. Processes operating during the few days during and immediately after irrigation seem to determine the dynamics of gaseous production in this agricultural ecosystem. •Soil irrigated with untreated sewage water emits much CO2 and N2O.•The gases were measured frequently in static chambers.•The repeated measurements were tested by antedependence.•Autocorrelated effects of irrigation were estimated by REML.•Significant short-term emissions of CO2 and N2O followed each irrigation.