Nitrogen Losses and Potential Mitigation Strategies for a Sustainable Agroecosystem
1
Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
2
Department of Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
3
Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58102, USA
4
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
5
Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Christopher Robin Bryant
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2400; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042400
Received: 20 January 2021
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Revised: 15 February 2021
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Accepted: 18 February 2021
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Published: 23 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecological Approaches for Soil Health and Water Management)
Nitrogen (N) in the agricultural production system influences many aspects of agroecosystems and several critical ecosystem services widely depend on the N availability in the soil. Cumulative changes in regional ecosystem services may lead to global environmental changes. Thus, the soil N status in agriculture is of critical importance to strategize its most efficient use. Nitrogen is also one of the most susceptible macronutrients to environmental loss, such as ammonia volatilization (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, nitrate leaching (NO3), etc. Any form of N losses from agricultural systems can be major limitations for crop production, soil sustainability, and environmental safeguard. There is a need to focus on mitigation strategies to minimize global N pollution and implement agricultural management practices that encourage regenerative and sustainable agriculture. In this review, we identified the avenues of N loss into the environment caused by current agronomic practices and discussed the potential practices that can be adapted to prevent this N loss in production agriculture. This review also explored the N status in agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic and the existing knowledge gaps and questions that need to be addressed.
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Keywords:
nitrogen; nitrate leaching; nitrous oxide; soil resilience; soil microbiome; regenerative agriculture; ecological ditch
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MDPI and ACS Style
Mahmud, K.; Panday, D.; Mergoum, A.; Missaoui, A. Nitrogen Losses and Potential Mitigation Strategies for a Sustainable Agroecosystem. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042400
AMA Style
Mahmud K, Panday D, Mergoum A, Missaoui A. Nitrogen Losses and Potential Mitigation Strategies for a Sustainable Agroecosystem. Sustainability. 2021; 13(4):2400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042400
Chicago/Turabian StyleMahmud, Kishan, Dinesh Panday, Anaas Mergoum, and Ali Missaoui. 2021. "Nitrogen Losses and Potential Mitigation Strategies for a Sustainable Agroecosystem" Sustainability 13, no. 4: 2400. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042400
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