DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb2n
title: Data from: Global evaluation of inhibitor impacts on ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils: A meta-analysis

description: Inhibitors are widely considered an efficient tool for reducing nitrogen
 (N) loss and improving N use efficiency, but their effectiveness is highly
 variable across agroecosystems. In this study, we synthesized 182 studies
 (222 sites) worldwide to evaluate the impacts of inhibitors (urease
 inhibitors [UI], nitrification inhibitors [NI] and combined inhibitors
 [UINI]) on crop yields and gaseous N loss (ammonia [NH3] and nitrous oxide
 [N2O] emissions) and explored their responses to different management and
 environmental factors including inhibitor application timing,
 fertilization regime, cropping system, water management, soil properties
 and climatic conditions using subgroup meta-analysis, meta-regression and
 multivariate analyses, including multiple linear regression and random
 forest regression. The UI were most effective in enhancing crop yields (by
 5%) and reducing NH3 volatilization (by 51%) whereas NI were most
 effective at reducing N2O emissions (by 49%). The application of UI
 mitigates NH3 loss and increases crop yields especially in high NH3-N loss
 scenarios, whereas NI application would minimize the net N2O emissions and
 the resultant environmental impacts especially in low NH3-N loss
 scenarios. Alternatively, the combined application of UI and NI enables
 producers to balance crop production and environmental conservation goals
 without pollution tradeoffs. The inhibitor efficacy for decreasing gaseous
 N loss was dependent upon soil and climatic conditions and management
 practices. Notably, both meta-regression and multivariate analyses suggest
 that inhibitors provide a greater opportunity for reducing fertilizer N
 inputs in high-N-surplus systems and presumably favor crop yield
 enhancement under soil N deficiency situations. The pursuit of an improved
 understanding of the interactions between plant-soil-climate-management
 systems and different types of inhibitors should continue to optimize the
 effectiveness of inhibitors for reducing environmental losses while
 increasing productivity.
description: # Data from: Global evaluation of inhibitor impacts on ammonia and nitrous
 oxide emissions from agricultural soils: A meta-analysis
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb2n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0k6djhb2n) ## Description of the data and file structure File name: Data_for_inhibitor_meta-analysis.csv File format: CSV Instruction: All abbreviations, units, and column headings are included in the dataset. **Definitions of all variables from the column headers of the submitted data file are as below:** * Reference: Reference number of the reviewed article. * Publication: Previously published article from which the data was obtained. * Country: The country in which the experimental site was located. * Field/Lab: The experiment was carried out in field or in lab. * Inhibitor type: The type of the inhibitor used in the experiment, including nitrification inhibitor (NI), urease inhibitor (UI) and double use of NI and UI (DI). * Inhibitor: Specific inhibitor product used in the experiment. * Inhibitor application method: Application method of inhibitor including applied together with fertilizers by being mixed (Mixed) or pre-formulated with fertilizers (Formulated), or added separately before (Before) or after (After) the fertilizer application. * Fertilizer type: Type of fertilizers applied to the soil including, inorganic fertilizers (IN), organic fertilizers (OR), combination of IN and OR (IN+OR), combination of N fertilizer and exogenous C inputs such as straw or biochar (N+C) and unfertilized (None). * Fertilizer: Specific fertilizer products applied in the experiment. * N application rate (kg N ha^-1^): Application rate of N fertilizer during the experiment. * Fertilizer application method: Fertilizer application methods including being broadcast, sprayed or poured onto the soil surface (Surface applied), injected into the soil (Injected), incorporated with the soil (Incorporated) and band application (Banded). * Soil texture group: Fine-textured soils (i.e., clay, silty clay, clay loam, silty clay loam and sandy clay loam), medium-textured soils (i.e., silt loam and silt loam), and coarse-textured soils (sandy loam, loamy sand and sand). * Soil pH: Soil pH. * SOC (g kg^-1^): Soil organic carbon content. * Crop type: Crops planted in the experiment including cereal crop (Grain crop), non-cereal cash crop (cash crop), grass (described as “grassland”, “pasture”, “ryegrass” and “ryegrass and white clover”), rotation of mutiple crops (Grain crop+Cash crop and Grain crop+Grass) and unplanted soil (none). * Water management: Water management of the experiment including rainfed system (Rainfed), irrigated upland system (Irrigated) and paddy system (Paddy). * Rainfall (mm): Seasonal precipitation in rainfed upland fields during the experiment. * Temperature (°C): Seasonal mean air temperature during the experiment. * Yield from fert (kg ha^-1^): Crop yield under conventional fertilization treatment without inhibitor addition. * Yield from inhib (kg ha^-1^): Crop yield under inhibitor application treatment. * N~2~O from CK (kg N ha^-1^): Seasonal cumulative N~2~O emissions under unfertilized treatment. * N~2~O from fert (kg N ha^-1^): Seasonal cumulative N~2~O emissions under conventional fertilization treatment without inhibitor addition. * N~2~O from inhib (kg N ha^-1^): Seasonal cumulative N~2~O emissions under inhibitor application treatment. * NH~3~ from CK (kg N ha^-1^): Seasonal cumulative NH~3~ emissions under unfertilized treatment. * NH~3~ from fert (kg N ha^-1^): Seasonal cumulative NH~3~ emissions under conventional fertilization treatment without inhibitor addition. * NH~3~ from inhib (kg N ha^-1^): Seasonal cumulative NH~3~ emissions under inhibitor application treatment. **Note:** NA stands for not available data due to the lack of relevant information from the reviewed article.