Liebig’s law of the minimum applied to a greenhouse gas: alleviation of P-limitation reduces soil N2O emission

Background and aims Emission of the greenhouse gas (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O) are strongly affected by nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rates. However, the role of other nutrients through stoichiometric relations with N has hardly been studied. We tested whether phosphorus (P) availability affects N2O emission. We hypothesized that alleviation of plant P-limitation reduces N2O emission through lowering soil mineral N concentrations.