Greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen use efficiency and biomass from inorganic fertiliser additions to grassland at North Wyke and Henfaes, UK (2016)

A dataset contains nitrogen offtake, emissions, soil parameters, and herbage quality measurements from a three-cut silage plot trial at two UK grassland sites in 2016. Measurements were taken from 16 plots per site following fertiliser applications by researchers from Bangor University and Rothamsted Research. Data was collected for the Newton Fund project 'UK-China Virtual Joint Centre for Improved Nitrogen Agronomy'.

Use Cases

• Model nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions as a function of applied fertiliser and soil ammonium (NH4) levels.
• Analyze correlations between herbage crude protein (CP) content, metabolizable energy (ME), and digestibility (D).
• Calculate nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) from nitrogen offtake and losses (ammonia, nitrous oxide) across the trial plots.
• Assess the impact of fertiliser timing on soil nitrate (NO3) levels and herbage acid-digestible fibre (ADF).

Strengths

• Data collected from 16 experimental plots at each of two distinct UK grassland sites, providing comparative site data.
• Includes multiple measured parameters: nitrogen emissions (NH3, N2O), soil N (NH4, NO3), and herbage quality (dry matter, ADF, ash, CP, ME, NDF, D).
• Measurements follow a structured three-cut, three-application schedule within a randomised complete block design.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is limited to a single growing season from April to October 2016.
• Geographic scope is restricted to two specific UK sites, limiting generalizability to other regions or climates.
• Sample size is confined to 32 total plots (16 per site), which may limit statistical power for some analyses.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre; data collected by Bangor University and Rothamsted Research.

Collection Method

Field measurements from a randomised complete block design plot trial with three fertiliser applications and three silage cuts.

Time Range

April to October 2016.

Freshness

Data is from 2016, with metadata last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Two grassland sites in the UK: North Wyke in Devon and Henfaes Research Station in North Wales.