Higher Available Soil Water Storage at Sowing and Frequency of Rainfall Events During the First Month Enhanced the Inhibitory Effect of Nitrification Inhibitor on Nitrous Oxide Emissions

Urea combined with nitrification inhibitors (NI) can significantly reduce nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) compared to urea. However, there is a lack of evidence for higher agronomic benefits and better environmental benefits, i.e., the ability to minimize N2O emissions and improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE) while maintaining high yield under N application rates lower than conventional N application rates. A 3-year in situ fertilization experiment was conducted under film mulching conditions in the Loess Plateau region with low rainfall. Three treatments of conventional N fertilization (CK), reduced N fertilization (RN), and RN with NI (RN + NI) were used to quantify soil N2O emissions, plant N uptake, NUE, and grain yield. RN and RN + NI treatments significantly reduced N2O emissions by 17.29–29.15