Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2012, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (2): 120-124.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1259.2012.00120

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Investigation of N2O and CH4 Emissions from Plants

Xiujun Zhang1*, Piwen Jiang1, Hai Zhu1, Dan Dong1, Zongwei Xia2, Guanxiong Chen2   

  1. 1College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044, China

    2Key Laboratory of Terrestrial Ecological Process, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
  • Received:2011-07-20 Revised:2011-12-06 Online:2012-03-01 Published:2012-03-16
  • Contact: Xiujun Zhang

Abstract: N2O and CH4 are two important greenhouse gases. However, their sources have not been well characterized. Plants are known to emit N2O and CH4, which has received widespread attention. We investigated N2O and CH4 emissions from fresh aboveground parts (branches and leaves) of 8 xerophytic herbaceous plants. All species could emit both N2O and CH4. Lolium perenne, Ixeridium sonchifolium and Spinacia oleracea showed high CH4 emission, with fluxes of 165.38, 52.28 and 21.64 ngCH4·g–1dw·h–1, respectively. I. sonchifolium, Artemisia mongolica, Glycine max and S. oleracea emitted more N2O, with fluxes of 7.19, 6.92, 5.44 and 4.05 ngN2O·g–1dw·h–1, respectively. These results provide further evidence of the universality of plants emitting N2O and CH4 but also reveal suitable plant species (I. sonchifolium and S. oleracea) for further mechanistic studies.