Impacts of long-term chemical nitrogen fertilization on soil quality, crop yield, and greenhouse gas emissions: With insights into post-lime application responses.

The improvement in the agricultural production through continuous and heavy nutrient input like nitrogen fertilizer under the upland red soil of south China deteriorates soil quality, and this practice in the future could threaten future food production and cause serious environmental problems in China. This research is initiated with the objectives of evaluating the impacts of long-term chemical nitrogen fertilization on soil quality, crop yield, and greenhouse gas emissions, with insights into post-lime application responses. Compared to sole application of chemical nitrogen fertilization, combined application with lime increased soil indicators (pH by 6.30 %-7.76 %, Ca ²⁺ by 90.06 %-252.77 %, Mg ²⁺ by 184.47 %-358.05 %, available P by 5.05 %-30.04 %, and soil alkali hydrolysable N by 23.49 %-41.55 %. Combined application of chemical nitrogen fertilization with lime (NPCa (0.59), NPKCa (0.61), and NKCa (0.27) significantly improved soil quality index compared to the sole application of chemical nitrogen fertilization (NP (0.31), NPK (0.36), and NK (0.16). Compared to sole application of chemical nitrogen fertilization, combined application with lime increased grain yield by 48.36 %-61.49 %. Structural equation modeling elucidated that combined application of chemical nitrogen fertilization and lime improved wheat grain yield by improving soil quality. Exchangeable Ca ²⁺ , exchangeable Mg ²⁺ , pH, and exchangeable Al ³⁺ were the most influential factors of wheat grain yield. Overall, the combined application of chemical nitrogen fertilization and lime decreased global warming potential (calculated from N ₂ O and CO ₂ ) by 16.92 % emissions compared to the sole application of chemical nitrogen fertilization. Therefore, liming acidic soil in upland red soil of South China is a promising management option for improved soil quality, wheat grain yield, and mitigation of greenhouse gas 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.
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