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Climate-smart ag strategies may cut nitrous oxide emissions from corn production
Lead researcher Maria Ponce de Leon, a former graduate student in plant science, carries a nitrous oxide emissions chamber into a corn field at Penn State’s Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center to measure the amount of the potent greenhouse gas given off by the crop.
Image: Heather Karsten
For corn, using dairy manure and legume cover crops in crop rotations can reduce the need for inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and protect water quality, but these practices also can contribute to emissions of nitrous oxide – a potent greenhouse gas.