Combining slow-release fertilizer and plastic film mulching reduced the carbon footprint and enhanced maize yield on the Loess Plateau.

Agricultural practices significantly contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, necessitating cleaner production technologies to reduce environmental pressure and achieve sustainable maize production. Plastic film mulching is commonly used in the Loess Plateau region. Incorporating slow-release fertilizers as a replacement for urea within this practice can reduce nitrogen losses and enhance crop productivity. Combining these techniques represents a novel agricultural approach in semi-arid areas. However, the impact of this integration on soil carbon storage (SOCS), carbon footprint (CF), and economic benefits has received limited research attention. Therefore, we conducted an eight-year study (2015-2022) in the semi-arid northwestern region to quantify the effects of four treatments [urea supplied without plastic film mulching (CK-U), slow-release fertilizer supplied without plastic film mulching (CK-S), urea supplied with plastic film mulching (PM-U), and slow-release fertilizer supplied with plastic film mulching (PM-S)] on soil fertility, economic and environmental benefits. The results revealed that nitrogen fertilizer was the primary contributor to total GHG emissions (≥71.97%). Compared to other treatments, PM-S increased average grain yield by 12.01%-37.89%, water use efficiency by 9.19%-23.33%, nitrogen accumulation by 27.07%-66.19%, and net return by 6.21%-29.57%. Furthermore, PM-S decreased CF by 12.87%-44.31% and CF per net return by 14.25%-41.16%. After eight years, PM-S increased SOCS (0-40 cm) by 2.46%, while PM-U decreased it by 7.09%. These findings highlight the positive effects of PM-S on surface soil fertility, economic gains, and environmental benefits in spring maize production on the Loess Plateau, underscoring its potential for widespread adoption and application.

Plant diversity decreases greenhouse gas emissions by increasing soil and plant carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems.

The decline in global plant diversity has raised concerns about its implications for carbon fixation and global greenhouse gas emissions (GGE), including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 2103 paired observations, examining GGE, soil organic carbon (SOC) and plant carbon in plant mixtures and monocultures. Our findings indicate that plant mixtures decrease soil N2O emissions by 21.4% compared to monocultures. No significant differences occurred between mixtures and monocultures for soil CO2 emissions, CH4 emissions or CH4 uptake. Plant mixtures exhibit higher SOC and plant carbon storage than monocultures. After 10 years of vegetation development, a 40% reduction in species richness decreases SOC content and plant carbon storage by 12.3% and 58.7% respectively. These findings offer insights into the intricate connections between plant diversity, soil and plant carbon storage and GGE-a critical but previously unexamined aspect of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning.

Straw returning and nitrogen reduction: Strategies for sustainable maize production in the dryland.

Implementing continue straw returning practices and optimizing nitrogen application can mitigate nitrogen losses and enhance nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in dryland. 15N-labeled technique offers a robust approach for tracking fertilizer nitrogen fate and assessing nitrogen use efficiency. Based on the continue (>6 yr) experiment, we conducted a two-year experiment (2020 and 2021) to evaluate the effects of straw returning and nitrogen management under plastic film mulching on 15N recovery rates, N2O emissions and maize yield with three treatments: no straw returning with 225 kg N·ha-1 under plastic film mulching (RP-N225), straw returning with 225 kg N·ha-1 under plastic film mulching (RPS-N225), and straw returning with 20% nitrogen reduction (180 kg N·ha-1) under plastic film mulching (RPS-N180). After six years, both continue straw returning with plastic film mulching increased uptake of fertilizer nitrogen, had higher 15N recovery rates than RP-N225, leading to increased 15N accumulation in grain and aboveground biomass, ultimately enhancing yield. The RPS-N225 treatment exhibited the highest spring maize yield and nitrogen harvest index. The RPS-N180 treatment significantly increased maize yield more than RP-N225 and had the highest NUE, partial factor productivity of nitrogen fertilizer, and nitrogen uptake efficiency, with improvements ranging from 1.7 to 2.4%, 19.3-29.6%, and 17.3-27.5%, respectively, compared to the other treatments. Moreover, RPS-N225 resulted in significantly higher cumulative N2O emissions and yield-scaled N2O emissions than the other treatments, whereas the RPS-N180 treatment significantly decreased yield-scaled N2O emissions compared to RP-N225. Hence, combining continue straw returning with appropriate nitrogen reduction can effectively increase maize yield and yield-scaled N2O emissions. By offering insights into optimizing nitrogen fertilizer management after continue maize straw return, this study is contributed to widespread adoption of straw return practices and sustainable agricultural development in semi-arid areas.

Unveiling protic amino acid ionic liquids for the efficient capture of carbon dioxide.

A series of novel protic amino acid ionic liquids (PAAILs) are designed and synthesized for the first time through acid-base neutralization and an ion exchange reaction. Among the synthesised PAAILs, the [DBNH][Maba] PAAIL has the largest CO2 absorption capacity of 0.78 mol mol-1 (0.142 g g-1) at 313.2 K. The PAAILs are found to be efficient, reversible, and selective CO2 absorbents.

Efficient Absorption of CO2 by Protic-Ionic-Liquid Based Deep Eutectic Solvents.

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) are among the key technologies to achieve large-scale carbon emission reduction globally. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are considered as designable solvents, which has attracted intensive attention for CO2 capture. Here, a series of binary DESs are synthesized through one-step mixing with the starting materials of protic ionic liquid (PIL) and amine. The eutectic behavior was investigated by measuring the melting point of PILs and amine. The saturated vapor of these DESs and industrial MDEA solution were measured and compared. These DESs are investigated to have high absorption capacity (0.1 g ⋅ g-1 at 1.0 bar and 25 °C), superior apparent absorption rate constant (0.381 min-1 vs 0.012 min-1 of 70 wt.% MDEA), moderate interaction with CO2 (the enthalpy change is as low as -34.8 kJ ⋅ mol-1). The absorption mechanism is also investigated by NMR analysis. Eight absorption/desorption regeneration experiments are carried out to show their reversibility. Considering the advantages, including convenience of synthesis, large absorption capacity, fast absorption rate, and moderate interaction energy as well as good regeneration, these DESs are believed to be as potential CO2 absorbent in practical applications.

Enhanced Adsorption of Aromatic Volatile Organic Compounds on a Perchloro Covalent Triazine Framework through Multiple Intermolecular Interactions.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Especially, aromatic VOCs including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) are important indoor air pollutants. Developing highly efficient porous adsorbents with broad applicability remains a major challenge. In this study, a perchlorinated covalent-triazine framework (ClCTF-1-400) is prepared for adsorbing BTEX. ClCTF-1-400 is confirmed as a partially oxidized/chlorinated microporous covalent triazine framework through a variety of characterization. It is found that ClCTF-1-400 is reversible VOCs absorbent with very high absorption capacities, which can adsorb benzene (693 mg g-1 ), toluene (621 mg g-1 ), ethylbenzene (603 mg g-1 ), o-xylene (500 mg g-1 ), m-xylene (538 mg g-1 ), and p-xylene (592 mg g-1 ) at 25 °C and their saturated vapor pressure (≈ 1 kPa). ClCTF-1-400 is of higher adsorption capacities for all selected VOCs than activated carbon and other reported adsorbents. The adsorption mechanism is also inferred through theoretical calculation and in-site Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The observed excellent BTEX adsorption performance is attributed to the multiple weak interactions between the ClCTF-1-400 frameworks and aromatic molecules through multiple weak interactions (CH… π and CCl… π). The breakthrough experiment demonstrates ClCTF-1-400 has the potential for real VOCs pollutant removal in air.

Homologue-paired liquids as special non-ionic deep eutectic solvents for efficient absorption of SO2.

Low-viscous homologue-paired liquids (HPLs) are designed and employed as special non-ionic deep eutectic solvents for selective separation of SO2 from CO2 and N2. The HPLs are found to have excellent inherent properties (e.g., low cost, volatility and viscosity), high absorption capacity, fast absorption rate, and moderate Lewis acid-base interaction with SO2. Regeneration experiments are done to show their excellent recyclability, and industrial desulfurization is exemplified in a small column with suitable parameters to show their potential as SO2 absorbents.