This project aims to investigate the cause of and differences in the levels of GHG emissions during sequences of crops and fallows.

CSIRO is involved in environmental research into atmospheric and climate changes associated with human activity. Green house gases (GHG’s - N2O, CO2 and CH4) contribute to climate change by altering the solar radiation balance of the earth. In Australia, current research indicates that cotton crops are over-fertilised by an average of ~50 kg N ha-1 which leads to a potentially high N2O emission. Emissions of GHG’s have been monitored from cotton systems with Professor Peter Grace in the past, but these measurements were only short term. To adequately assess the contribution of irrigated cotton rotation’s to the GHG emission long term measurements that encompass the complete rotation are required. This will help improve the fundamental understanding of the processes (soil denitrification) and practices (fertiliser rate, rotation) that contribute to GHG emissions in irrigated cropping systems, encompassing the full crop rotation, to develop better management practices that mitigate GHG emissions.