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Grazing Can Help Reduce Nitrous Oxide

Emissions are actually reduced in some places by grazing.

Compiled by staff

Published: Apr 12, 2010

Biologists have long assumed that the farming of cattle and other livestock was part of the reason for rising nitrous oxide levels, because the animals' grazing disrupts the natural cycle that draws nitrogen into the soil. Nitrous oxide could be an even bigger problem as scientists say nitrous oxide is about 300 times as powerful as CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. According to new research published in Nature, in some places grazing actually reduces N2O emissions.

Steve Del Grosso, a soil scientist with USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Ft. Collins, Colo., say's that's quite surprising. The field research took place in Inner Mongolia, where frigid winters are followed by relatively balmy summers, a cycle that turns out to be key. The study's co-author Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, says that grazing is like mowing, it keeps the grasses short. When winter arrives, tall, un-grazed grasses trap the snow, forming an insulating blanket that keeps the soil below at a relatively warm 16°F or so.

On grazed land the snow just blows away, exposing the ground more or less directly to the chilly air and driving subsurface temperatures down to a few degrees below zero. At these temperatures, says Butterbach-Bahl, soil microbes, some of which emit N2O, can't easily survive. When the ground finally thaws in spring, the un-grazed grass not only has microbes ready to start churning out nitrous oxide, but also snowmelt to provide the water it needs to thrive. The scientist says that on grazing land far less microbial activity is seen.

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Tagged: grazing, UN, usda, farming

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Grazing Can Help Reduce Nitrous Oxide

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