Agricultural soils a trigger to nitrous oxide: a persuasive greenhouse gas and its management.

Agricultural soils form the backbone of the country's economic development. The increased population has not only reduced this treasure but also has affected the global climate at an alarming rate. Among the GHGs, emission of NO due to agricultural activities is nowadays a global concern. Agricultural industries have increased NO and CH by 17% in the atmosphere since 1990, with an average emanation rate of around 60 MT CO equivalents per year. Crop production accounts for approximately 50% of NO emissions stemming from the farming community and discharges of fertilizer-induced NO, for the time being estimated by IPCC at 1.24% of the N used ranging from 0.76% (rice) to 2.77% (maize). The concentration of atmospheric NO has increased (60 ppb) after the industrial revolution, at the pace of 0.73 ppb year. Besides, soil structure, temperature, moisture, denitrifying microbial population, pH, C:N ratio, and relief are the factors which significantly enhance the NO levels into the atmosphere. NO as a GHG has more potential towards global warming than CO and has a very long residence period (115 years) in the atmosphere. NO emission is nowadays a core issue which needs to be mitigated so as to decline the levels of its production in agricultural soils. However, priority should be given to the organic farming, management of soil chemistry, and phytoremediation to reduce the addition of NO into the ambient air. Furthermore, deployment of NO reductase in agricultural soils increases the efficiency of converting NO to inert N which is a valuable strategy to reduce NO production.