Elucidating three-way interactions between soil, pasture and animals that regulate nitrous oxide emissions from temperate grazing systems

Summary

This study elucidates feedback mechanisms linking soil, pasture, animal nutrition and microbial communities in temperate grazing systems by measuring nitrous oxide emissions across different pasture types and dietary scenarios. The findings highlight that high sugar grass monoculture systems with matched cattle diet produced elevated N₂O emissions, underscoring the importance of systems-level evaluation rather than isolated component analysis. The research demonstrates that greenhouse gas impacts of grazing agriculture cannot be understood without considering the integrated interactions between pastoral, edaphic and nutritional factors.

UK applicability

Directly applicable to UK temperate grazing systems where high sugar grass varieties are widely used in intensive pasture management. Findings suggest that UK farmers seeking to reduce N₂O emissions from livestock should consider the systemic interactions between grass variety selection, animal feeding systems and soil properties rather than optimising components in isolation.

Key measures

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions; soil properties; pasture composition; cattle diet; microbial community composition

Outcomes reported

The study measured nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from soil under different pasture types receiving cattle excreta, examining three-way interactions between soil chemistry, pasture botanical composition, and animal diet. Results demonstrated that soil under high sugar grass monoculture receiving excreta from cattle fed the same grass recorded higher N₂O emissions.

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