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Recycling of phosphorus (P) from waste streams in agriculture is essential to reduce the negative environmental effects of surplus P and the unsustainable mining of geological P resources. Sewage sludge (SS) is an important P source; however, several issues are associated with the handling and application of SS in agriculture. Thus, post-treatments such as pyrolysis of SS into biochar (BC) could address some of these issues. Here we elucidate how patches of SS in soil interact with the living roots of wheat and affect important P-related rhizosphere processes compared to their BC counterparts. Wheat plants were grown in rhizoboxes with sandy loam soil, and 1 cm Ø patches with either SS or BC placed 10 cm below the seed. A negative control (CK) was included. Planar optode pH sensors were used to visualize spatiotemporal pH changes during 40 days of plant growth, diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) were applied to map labile P, and zymography was used to visualize the spatial distribution of acid (ACP) and alkaline (ALP) phosphatase activity. In addition, bulk soil measurements of available P, pH, and ACP activity were conducted. Finally, the relative abundance of bacterial P-cycling genes (phoD, phoX, phnK) was determined in the patch area rhizosphere. Labile P was only observed in the area of the SS patches, and SS further triggered root proliferation and increased the activity of ACP and ALP in interaction with the roots. In contrast, BC seemed to be inert, had no visible effect on root growth, and even reduced ACP and ALP activity in the patch area. Furthermore, there was a lower relative abundance of phoD and phnK genes in the BC rhizosphere compared to the CK. Hence, optimization of BC properties is needed to increase the short-term efficiency of BC from SS as a P fertilizer., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Klaus Koren and Theresa Merl report that financial support was provided by Grundfos Foundation. Klaus Koren and Theresa Merl report that financial support was provided by Independent Research Fund Denmark (IRFD) (Grant number DFF-8048-00057B). Marie Louise Bornø, Mette H. Nicolaisen, Frederik Bak, Athanasios Zervas, Lars S. Jensen, and Dorette S. Müller-Stöver reports that financial support was provided by Novo Nordic Foundation (Grant number: NNF19SA0059360)., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to evaluate duckweed ponds and constructed wetlands as polishing steps in pig manure liquid fraction treatment. Using nitrification-denitrification (NDN) of the liquid fraction as the starting point, the LCA compared direct land application of the NDN effluent with different combinations of duckweed ponds, constructed wetlands and discharge into natural waterbodies. Duckweed ponds and constructed wetlands are viewed as a viable tertiary treatment option and potential remedy for nutrient imbalances in areas of intense livestock farming, such as in Belgium. As the effluent stays in the duckweed pond, settling and microbial degradation reduce the remaining phosphorous and nitrogen concentrations. Combined with duckweed and/or wetland plants that take up nutrients in their plant body, this approach can reduce over-fertilisation and prevent excessive nitrogen losses to aquatic environments. In addition, duckweed could serve as an alternative livestock feed and replace imports of protein destined for animal consumption. The environmental performance of the overall treatment systems studied was found to depend greatly on assumptions about the possible avoidance of potassium fertiliser production through the field application of effluents. If it is assumed that the potassium contained in the effluent replaces mineral fertiliser, direct field application of the NDN effluent performed best. If the application of NDN effluent does not lead to mineral fertiliser savings or if the replaced K fertiliser is of low grade, duckweed ponds seem to be a viable additional step in the manure treatment chain. Consequently, whenever background concentrations of N and/or P in fields allow for effluent application and potassium fertiliser substitution, direct application should be favoured over further treatment. If direct land application of the NDN effluent is not an option, the focus should be on long residence times in duckweed ponds to allow for maximum nutrient uptake and feed production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nitrogen fertilisation contributes significantly to the atmospheric increase of nitrous oxide (N 2 O). Application of nitrification inhibitors (NIs) is a promising strategy to mitigate N 2 O emissions and improve N-use efficiency in agricultural systems. This study investigated the effect of NI, 3,4-dimethylpyrazol phosphate (DMPP) on N 2 O mitigation from spring barley and spring oilseed rape. Manual and automatic chamber methodologies were used to capture spatial and temporal variability in N 2 O emissions. In a second experiment, we study the effect of N fertiliser levels without NI (0 %, 50 %, 100 %, 150 % and 200 % of recommended amount of N fertiliser), as well as 100 % of N with NI on N 2 O emissions in spring barley. The automated chamber measurements showed dynamics of N 2 O changes throughout the season, including positive and negative peaks that were unobservable with manual chambers due to low temporal resolution. Although not significant, application of NI tended to reduce N 2 O emissions. The reduction was on average 16 % in spring barley and 58 % in spring oilseed rape in manual chamber measurements. However, N 2 O reduction was 108 % in continuous automatic chamber measurements in spring barley. The N 2 O EFs for the growing season were very low (0.025 % to 0.148 %), with a greater reduction in EF in spring oilseed rape (76 %) than in spring barley (32 %) with NI application. A positive correlation (R = 80 %) was observed between N fertiliser levels and N 2 O emissions. Crop yield and crop N uptake were not significantly affected by the use of NI. This study highlighted that NI can reduce N 2 O emissions, but the reduction effects are plot, crop and microclimate specific. Long-term experiments with continuous plot-scale measurements are needed to capture and optimise N 2 O mitigation effect of NIs across wide variability in soils and microclimates in agroecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The EU nitrogen expert panel (EUNEP) has proposed nitrogen-based indicators for farm productivity (N output), efficiency (NUE) and environmental emissions (N surplus). This model-based study (using the Daisy model) was carried out, i) to study the effects of soil type, soil organic matter (SOM), cropping pre-histories varying in C input, 3-to-4 manure-to-mineral N proportions and ten crop rotations on the N-based indicators, and ii) to evaluate the adequacy of these indicators by establishing quantitative relationships between N surplus, N loss and soil organic N (SON) stock change. The results, averaged over 24-year simulation period, indicated that grass-clover dominant rotations had highest N output and showed a tendency to increase SON stocks when compared with spring-cereal monocultures. For most rotations, the NUE ranged between 70 and 75 %. The SON stocks were mainly influenced by initial SOM and cropping prehistory, and stocks increased only under low initial SOM and low C input cropping pre-history (spring barley). Overall, SON stocks tended to increase under low C input pre-history, coarse sand, low initial SOM and high manure N, however, this combination did not result in highest productivity, NUE, and lowest N losses. The relations between N surplus, N loss and SON stock change were strongly affected by crop rotations, emphasizing that using N surplus as an indicator for N leaching/losses while ignoring changes in SON stocks may result in biased conclusions, e.g. estimated average error for N losses ranged from -45 % (underestimation) for maize monoculture to +50 % (overestimation) for continuous grass-clover ley. The results also imply that the environmental assessment of cropping systems must be improved by combining above indicators with estimation of N loss and SON stock changes. This study provides a detailed account of N balance components/N indicators for diverse crop rotations and their use according to the recommendations of the EUNEP., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nitrate (N) leaching from intensively managed cropping systems is of environmental concern and it varies at local scale. To evaluate the performance of agricultural practices at this scale, there is a need to develop comprehensive assessments of N leaching and the N leaching reduction potential of mitigation measures. A model-based analysis was performed to (i) estimate N leaching from Danish cropping systems, representing 20 crop rotations, 3 soil types, 2 climates and 3-4 levels of manure (slurry)-to-fertilizer ratios, but with same available N (according to regulatory N fertilization norms), and (ii) appraise mitigation potential of on-farm measures (i.e. catch crops, early sowing of winter cereals) to reduce N leaching. The analysis was performed using a process-based agro-environmental model (Daisy). Simulated average N leaching over 24 years ranged from 16 to 85 kg N/ha/y for different crop rotations. Rotations with a higher proportion of spring crops were more prone to leaching than rotations having a higher proportion of winter cereals and semi-perennial grass-clover leys. N leaching decreased with increasing soil clay content under all conditions. The effect of two climates (different regions, mainly differing in precipitation) on N leaching was generally similar, with slight variation across rotations. Supplying a part of the available N as manure-N resulted in similar N leaching as mineral fertilizer N alone during the simulation period. Among the mitigation measures, both undersown and autumn sown catch crops were effective. Effectiveness of measures also depended on their place and frequency of occurrence in a rotation. Adopting catch crops during the most leaching-prone years and with higher frequency were effective choices. This analysis provided essential data-driven knowledge on N leaching risk, and potential of leaching reduction options. These results can serve as a supplementary guiding-tool for farmers to plan management practices, and for legislators to design farm-specific regulatory measures., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Rice production systems are the largest anthropogenic wetlands on earth and feed more than half of the world's population. However, they are also a major source of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Several agronomic strategies have been proposed to improve water-use efficiency and reduce GHG emissions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of water-saving irrigation (alternate wetting and drying (AWD) vs. soil water potential (SWP)), contrasting land establishment (puddling vs. reduced tillage) and fertiliser application methods (broadcast vs. liquid fertilisation) on water-use efficiency, GHG emissions and rice yield. The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design with eight treatments (all combinations of the three factors) and four replicates. AWD combined with broadcasting fertilisation was superior to SWP in terms of maintaining yield. However, seasonal nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions were significantly reduced by 64% and 66% in the Broadcast-SWP and Liquid fertiliser-SWP treatments, respectively, compared to corresponding treatments in AWD. The SWP also significantly reduced seasonal methane (CH 4 ) emissions by 34 and 30% in the broadcast and liquid fertilisation treatments, respectively. Area-scaled GWPs were reduced by 48% and 54% in Broadcast-SWP and Liquid fertiliser-SWP treatments respectively compared to the corresponding treatments in AWD. Compared to AWD, the broadcast and liquid fertilisation in SWP irrigation treatments reduced yield-scaled GWPs by 46% and 37%, respectively. In terms of suitability, based on yield-scaled GWPs, the treatments can be ordered as follows: Broadcast-SWP < Broadcast-AWD = Liquid fertiliser-SWP < Liquid fertiliser-AWD. Growing-season water use was 15% lower in the SWP treatments compared with the water-saving AWD. Reduced tillage reduced additional water use during land preparation. The conclusions of this study are that improved water management and timely coordination of N fertiliser with crop demand can reduce water use, N loss via N 2 O emissions, and CH 4 emissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Global rice production systems face two opposing challenges: the need to increase production to accommodate the world's growing population while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Adaptations to drainage regimes are one of the most promising options for methane mitigation in rice production. Whereas several studies have focused on mid-season drainage (MD) to mitigate GHG emissions, early-season drainage (ED) varying in timing and duration has not been extensively studied. However, such ED periods could potentially be very effective since initial available C levels (and thereby the potential for methanogenesis) can be very high in paddy systems with rice straw incorporation. This study tested the effectiveness of seven drainage regimes varying in their timing and duration (combinations of ED and MD) to mitigate CH 4 and N 2 O emissions in a 101-day growth chamber experiment. Emissions were considerably reduced by early-season drainage compared to both conventional continuous flooding (CF) and the MD drainage regime. The results suggest that ED+MD drainage may have the potential to reduce CH 4 emissions and yield-scaled GWP by 85-90% compared to CF and by 75-77% compared to MD only. A combination of (short or long) ED drainage and one MD drainage episode was found to be the most effective in mitigating CH 4 emissions without negatively affecting yield. In particular, compared with CF, the long early-season drainage treatments LE+SM and LE+LM significantly (p<0.01) decreased yield-scaled GWP by 85% and 87% respectively. This was associated with carbon being stabilised early in the season, thereby reducing available C for methanogenesis. Overall N 2 O emissions were small and not significantly affected by ED. It is concluded that ED+MD drainage might be an effective low-tech option for small-scale farmers to reduce GHG emissions and save water while maintaining yield., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Organic fertilisation inevitably leads to heterogeneous distribution of organic matter and nutrients in soil, i.e. due to uneven surface spreading or inhomogeneous incorporation. The resulting localised hotspots of nutrient application will induce various biotic and abiotic nutrient turnover processes and fixation in the residue sphere, giving rise to distinct differences in nutrient availability, soil oxygen content and greenhouse gas (GHG) production. In this study we investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of the reaction of manure solids and manure solids char with soil, focusing on their phosphorus (P) availability, as current emphasis on improving societal P efficiency through recycling waste or bio-based fertilisers necessitates a sound understanding of their behaviour. Soil layers amended at a constant P application rate with either pig manure solids or char made from pig manure solids were incubated for three weeks between layers of non-amended, P-depleted soil. Spatial and temporal changes in and around the amendment layers were simultaneously investigated in this study using a sandwich sensor consisting of a planar oxygen optode and multi-element diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) gels, combined with GHG emission measurements. After three weeks of incubation, the soil containing a layer amended with manure solids had a lower overall O2 content and had emitted significantly more CO2 than the non-amended control or the char-amended soil. The P availability from manure solids was initially higher than that from the char, but decreased over time, whereas from the char-amended layer P availability increased in the same period. In both treatments, increases in P availability were confined to the amended soil layer and did not greatly affect P availability in the directly adjacent soil layers during the three-week incubation. These results highlight the importance of placing organic P fertilisers close to where the plant roots will grow in order to facilitate optimal fertiliser use efficiency., (Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)