Air/surface exchange of nitric oxide between two typical vegetable lands and the atmosphere in the Yangtze Delta, China

Few researches had been carried out so far to study Air/surface exchange of nitric oxide between vegetable lands and the atmosphere. In this study, NO fluxes from two kinds of widely cultivated vegetable fields in the Yangtze Delta, China were measured with static chamber method. The average NO fluxes were 11.5 and 34.2 ng N m−2 s−1 for cabbage (CA) and potato (PO) fields, respectively. The volatile NON from the applied fertilizer approximately amounted to 0.6% and 3.6% for CA and PO fields, respectively. The total amount of NO emitted from the vegetable lands in this area during the investigated period was roughly estimated to be 9.1 Gg N, which accounted for about 6.5% of the total emissions from uplands in China. These results indicated that the vegetable fields acted as an important source of atmospheric NO in this area.