In the realm of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide is often singled out as the main offender. However, it’s the tiny organisms thriving in the world’s agricultural fields that release a much more potent gas: nitrous oxide. Scientists have been searching for a way to tackle this issue for quite some time.
Some researchers now believe they have identified a bacterium that could help.
As reported in this week’s Nature, extensive lab and field trials have shown that this naturally occurring bacterium can reduce nitrous oxide emissions without disturbing other soil microbes. It also demonstrates resilience in soil and can be produced relatively inexpensively.
“I believe that the pathway we have opened up here presents numerous new possibilities in bioengineering for cultivated soil,” said Lars Bakken, a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and one of the study’s authors.
A pound of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, has the potential to warm the atmosphere 265 times more than a pound of carbon dioxide and can linger in the atmosphere for over a century. The heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer by farmers contributes to the increased production of nitrous oxide in the soil, accounting for 6% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in 2022, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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