Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2018
206. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of data in his Department regarding the reduction in greenhouse gases by switching from calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser to protective urea which reduces the nitrous oxide release. [46441/18]
View answerUrease inhibitors can be used to delay the breakdown of urea until it has been washed deep enough into the soil, and to prevent sharp increases in pH, especially where urea is spread in bands, giving emissions reductions of 40% for liquid urea ammonium-N and 70% for solid urea1.
In its recent analysis of abatement potential in greenhouse gas emission in Irish Agriculture 2021-2030, Teagasc identified that altered fertiliser formulation offered the single largest agricultural abatement measure with mean N2O reductions of 0.52 Mt CO2-e yr-1 between 2021 and 2030 and a maximum mitigation potential of 0.75 Mt CO2-e yr-1 based on a 50% replacement of CAN (either straight or in compounds) applied to grassland with protected urea products.
The Sustainable Nitrogen Fertiliser Use and Disaggregated Emissions of Nitrogen (SUDEN) project, which was funded by my Department identified that farmers can maintain yields and reduce ammonia loss to the environment by switching from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea protected with NBPT (urease inhibiter). The research found nitrogen loss to the environment can be reduced substantially by integrating urease inhibitors in high profit grass systems.
1 http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/lrtap/Publications/Ammonia_SR136_28-4_HR.pdf
