2242-13

Joint ICTP-IAEA Workshop on Uncovering Sustainable Development

CLEWS; Modelling Climate, Land-use, Energy and Water (CLEW)
Interactions

30 May - 3 June, 2011

The Use of Nuclear Techniques in Land and Water Management

NGUYEN Minh-Long
IAEA
Vienna Internationa Centre
Joint FAO IAEA Division, P.O. Box 100, Room A2270, 1400
Vienna
AUSTRIA
 Joint ICTP‐IAEA Workshop on Uncovering
Sustainable Development

The Use of Nuclear Techniques in Land and

Water Management
Long Nguyen
NAFA (AGE)

Atoms for Food and Agriculture: Meeting the Challenge

 Corporate Mission

Atomic energy for Sustainable agricultural

development, improved
peace, health and
nutrition and food security
prosperity

to contribute to sustainable
food security and safety by
use of nuclear techniques
and biotechnology
biotechnology
 Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear
Techniques in Food and Agriculture
FAO IAEA
Agriculture and Department of
Consumer Protection Nuclear Sciences
Department and Applications

AGE (NAFA)

Soil Water Plant Breeding Animal Insect Pest Food &

Management and Genetics Production Control Environment
and Crop Nutrition (PBG) And Health (IPC) Protection
(SWMCN) Section (APH) Section (FEP)
Section Section Section

PBG IPC FEP

SWMCN Laboratory APH Laboratory
Laboratory Laboratory
Laboratory
Our Goals:
• Food Security

• Food Safety
• Sustainable Agriculture
 Main Drivers:

• Sustainable management of
agricultural resources: Sustainable
Agriculture
• Adaptation-Mitigation
of climate change
 Implementation

ƒ SWMCN Section – Vienna

International Centre
• Development,
implementation and co-
ordination of Coordinated
Research Projects (CRPs).
• Support to Technical
Cooperation Projects (TCPs).

ƒ SWMCN Laboratory - Seibersdorf

• Develop and test new
methodologies (R&D).
• Support to CRPs and TCPs.
• Develop training courses &
fellowship training.
• Providing analytical support
& external quality assurance.
 SWMCN

Soil
Isotopic and nuclear Water
techniques

Crop Nutrition
 SWMCN Activities

• Soil management and conservation for sustainable

agriculture and environment
– agroforestry; conservation agriculture; reduced tillage.
• Technologies and practices for sustainable use and
management of water in agriculture
– Enhance water use efficiency by crops through better irrigation,
improved soil moisture conservation etc.
• Integrated soil-plant approaches to increase crop
productivity in harsh environments
– Optimize production of drought and salt-tolerant crops.
– Nutrient management and enhanced N fertilizer use efficiency
 Sustainable Agriculture

WATER

Drought/salinity
Agro-forestry resistant crop
genotypes

Sustainable PLANT
SOIL
Agriculture

Erosion monitoring Applied Integrated water

& control Nutrients management

Integrated soil fertility

management
 Soil fertility
Soil Water

Plant nutrition
Soil physics

Soil erosion
Integrated Soil-Water-Nutrient-Plant Management

• Fertilisers.
Plants
•Organic residues
(BNF, drought tolerant)

Irrigation

Soil physics

Soil water
Soil fertility
 SWMCN

Soil
ENERGY Water

CLIMAT
E

Crop Nutrition
 Soil-Water-Crop Nutrition Management
Technical basis
• Both stable and radioactive isotopes can be used
as tracers in soil and water management & crop
nutrition.
• Isotopes are atoms with:
– the same chemical properties
– the same number of protons and electrons.
– different number of neutrons and mass number
(atomic weight).
• Isotopes can be either stable or radioactive
– stable isotopes: different masses (18O and 16O).
– radioactive isotopes: radioactive decay (32P).
 ISOTOPES

• Emitting ionizing radiation.

• Atoms
A

ZX
A = Mass number (Atomic weight) = protons + neutrons
Z = Atomic number = protons = electrons
• Isotopes
‰ Same chemical properties.
‰ Different mass number and different neutrons.

‰ Same protons and same electrons

 Carbon (C)

A (Atomic weight) Z (Atomic number) N

• Pro + neutron Proton = electron Neutron

12C 12 6 6

13C 13 6 7
 Carbon (C)

A Z N

10C 10 6 4

11C 11 6 5

12C 12 6 6
13C 13 6 7

14C 14 6 8
 Hydrogen (H)

A Z N

1H 1 1 0

2H 2 1 1

3H 3 1 2
Oxygen (O)

A Z N

16O 16 8 8

17O 17 8 9

18O 18 8 10
 Nitrogen (N)

A Z N

13N 13 7 6

14N 14 7 7

15N 15 7 8
 Phosphorus (P)

A Z N

31P 31 15 16

32P 32 15 17

33P 33 15 18
 Sulphur (S)

A Z N

32S 32 16 16
33S 33 16 17

34S 34 16 18

35S 35 16 19

36S 36 16 20
 Radioactive isotopes- Half life

ƒ Important consideration in study planning:

32P:
33P:
35S: 87.4 days

Activity (dpm): measured by liquid scintillation counter.

Solvent: toluenne
Scintillator:
Scintillator PPO (diphenyl oxazol) o POPOP
(phenyloxazol-2-yl benzene).
ƒ Quenching curve
 Radioactive isotopes

ƒ Examples: 32P and 35S.

ƒ Specific activity:
Bq/g of P or Bq/g of S in materials (soils/
plants/fertilisers).
1Bq=1dps and 1 Ci =3.7 x 1010 dps
ƒ Activity (dpm): measured by liquid scintillation counter.
Solvent: toluenne
Scintillator:
Scintillator PPO (diphenyl oxazol) o POPOP
(phenyloxazol-2-yl benzene).
ƒ Quenching curve
 Converting dpm to specific activity

ƒ Activity (dpm): measured by liquid scintillation counter.

ƒ Actual activity (corrected for radioactive decay) Rate of decay
of any radioisotope obeys exponential law:
Ao = A /e(-λt)
– where A is uncorrected dpm at time t, Ao is dpm at time t =0
corrected for radioactive decay from D0 of the application of
radioactive materials, and λ is decay constant, which is
equivalent to 0.693/half life.
– e is the natural logarithm
ƒ The corrected dpm is then converted to specific activity:
Spac (μCi/g of S or P)= corrected dpm / [amount of sample
analysed (g) x concentration (μgS/g material) x 2.22].
1 μ Ci =2.22 * 106 dpm
 Stable isotopes

Some commonly used stable isotopes and

their relative proportions:
Stable isotopes
Element Heavy Light
H 2H (0.0156%) 1H (99.9844%)

N 15N (0.366%) 14N (99.634%)

C 13C (1.108%) 12C (98.892%)

O 18O (0.204%) 16O (99.759%)

 Atom% abundance

Natural abundances of some stable isotopes in atom %

99.985 % 1H 0.015 % 2H

98.892 % 12C 1.108 % 13C

99.6337 % 14N 0.3663 % 15N

99.759 % 16O 0.0374 % 17O 0.2039 % 18O

95.018 % 32S 0.767 % 33S 4.215 % 34S

Stable isotopes

ƒ Atom% N15: Mass spectrometry or emission

ƒ Atom% N15= number of N15 atoms/ number of N atoms.

ƒ Atom%N15 excess= Atom% N15 - 0.366.

(100 atoms of N in atmosphere, there are only
0.366 atoms of N15 and 99.64 atom of N14).
ƒ Ndff%=atom%N15 excess in plant materials/
atom %N15 excess in N15-labelled
fertilizer
 Atom% abundance

Isotopic abundance is the number of atoms of a particular isotope of

an element as a fraction of the total number of atoms of that element.
It is usually expressed as a percentage and noted as atom%.

90 atoms 14N + 10 atoms 15N ……. 100 atoms N ….. 10 atom% 15N
Enrichment delta, δ
Enrichment delta, δ

Isotope Ratio International Reference Standard

Hydrogen D/1H = 0.00015576 Standard Mean Ocean Water, SMOW

Carbon 13C/12C = 0.0112372 Pee Dee Belemnite, PDB
Nitrogen 15N/14N = 0.0036765 Air
Oxygen 18O/16O = 0.0020671 PDB
Oxygen 18O/16O = 0.0020052 Standard Mean Ocean Water, SMOW
Sulfur 34S/32S = 0.0450045 Canyon Diablo Troilite Meteorite, CDT
Measurement of stable isotopes

Isotopes have slightly different physical properties. Detection

methods uses one of this properties (mass, emission
spectrum , IR absorption …).

The most common method to measure stable isotopes is

mass spectrometry.

Mass spectrometers capable of measuring the stable isotope

ratios of light elements (H, C, N, O and S) are called Isotope
Ratio Mass Spectrometers (IRMS).

New methods based on IR absorption have been introduced

recently.
Mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is an
analytical technique in
which atoms or
molecules from a
sample are ionized,
separated according to
their mass-to-charge
ratio (m/z), and then
recorded.
 Picarro L1115-i water vapor analyzer

• Precision δ18O …… <0.1‰

• Precision δ D …… <0.5‰

• Simultaneous measurement of δ18O

and δD

• Continuous, real time

measurements
– flow throw cell of 30ml/min
– reading every 6 sec.

• Liquid water measurements by

means of a vaporizer

• Field and laboratory deployable

• No vacuum; dry air as carrier gas;

no consumables

• Low drift
Water vapor sampling
Beijing Field Campaign June 2009
Water isotope analyzer
with liquid water injector

Field deployable
water vapour isotope analyzer
Nuclear techniques used in SWMCN
Management
Fallout
radionuclides

14N 32P

31P
31P 13CO
2 Soil moisture
15N neutron probe
12CO
2
15N 14N

32P
18O

13CO
2
16O
12CO
2

18O 16O

13C

12C
Carbon isotopes in crop water
productivity assessment

Plants can be grouped according to 13C

discrimination

12CO
C3 plants: δ 13C = -26 C4 plants: δ 13C = -12
2
(99%)

13CO
2
(1%)
rice, wheat,
maize, sorghum,
forest,
sugarcane,
vegetation
some tropical herbs
 Pb‐210ex 100years
Cs‐137 50 years
Fallout Be‐7 1‐2 months

radionuclides

Key Features of the Approach

RETROSPECTIVE
SINGLE SITE VISIT
SPATIALLY DISTRIBUTED
Adapted from Walling,
2007
Radionuclide in soil erosion-conservation

FRN with precipitation (P)

Resulting soil level

Erosion site
137Cs < P

Deposition site Original soil level

137Cs >P
 Isotopic and nuclear techniques in soil-
water-crop nutrition
• Enhance sustainable use of soil-water-nutrient
resources.
• Quantify biological nitrogen fixation.
• Minimize effects of soil erosion and degradation.
• Enhance water use efficiency by crops.
• Optimize production of drought and salt-tolerant
crops.
• Evaluate effects of crop residue incorporation on land
productivity and food security.
• Improve water (nutrient) use efficiency thus minimize
losses beyond the plant rooting zone.
 Examples of major
outcomes
¾ 41 countries use nuclear techniques to assess soil erosion and
develop cost-effective soil conservation measures. China,
Morocco, Romania and Vietnam have effectively reduced soil
erosion rates by 55-90% .
¾ 95 Member States use isotopic and nuclear techniques to
identify land and water management practices to improve
nutrient and water use efficiency (WUE). Some outcomes:
• At least 25-50% increase in yield, WUE and revenue
through efficient soil moisture monitoring and irrigation in
Chile, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
• 30% increase in BNF through improved soil-water-
nutrient-crop management practices in Asia and Africa.
Schematic of a riparian buffer zone-wetland

Agricultural land Riparian zone River

Terrestrial-aquatic ecotone

surface
runoff
riparian vegetation

water table

subsurface
runoff
Nitrate removal processes in riparian zones

Agricultural land Riparian zone River

Terrestrial-aquatic ecotone

AtmosphericN
2, N2O

Plant N
water table
Plant
uptake

Denitrification N2, N2O

Nitrate Immobilisation
Microbial N
(NO3) Dissimilatory reduction to
ammonium (DNRA)

NH4
 Nitrate transformation processes

DENITRIFICATION N GASES
(ATMOSPHERE)
(microorganisms)

DNRA
(DISSIMILATORY NITRATE AMMONIUM N
REDUCTION TO AMMONIUM) (SOIL OR WATER)
(microorganisms)

IMMOBILISATION MICROBIAL N
(SOIL MICROBES)
(microorganisms)

PLANT UPTAKE PLANT BIOMASS N

(plants) (PLANTS)
 Plants have a dual role
- direct uptake
- influencing other processes

Microbial N Transformations

DENITRIFICATION
organic carbon DNRA
IMMOBILISATION
oxygen
Riparian wetland
 Microcosm experiment

Without plants

With plants
Injecting 15NO3-N

- 4 points

- 1 cm intervals
from 0-14 cm depth
(microcosms 15 cm deep)
 N pool measured Process

Soil 15NH4-N DNRA

Soil 15Organic N Immobilisation

15NO -N
3

Plant 15N Plant uptake

Unaccounted 15N Denitrification

 WITH WITHOUT
TRANSFORMATION PLANTS PLANTS
PROCESS
% 15NO3-N TRANSFORMED

Denitrification 61 29

DNRA <0.1 49

Immobilisation 24 22

Plant uptake 15 -
Differences in soil oxidation – oxygen

-0.4

Depth -0.8 With plants

below Without plants
soil -1.2
surface
(cm)
-1.6

-2
0 20 40 60 80 100
Oxygen saturation (%)
Differences in soil oxidation – redox

0
-2
-4
Depth -6
below
soil -8
surface With plants
(cm) -10 Without plants

-12
-14

100 150 200 250 300 350

Redox potential (mV)
 Conclusions

** Vegetation important influence on N transformation

and removal

** Denitrification/sustainable N removal enhanced by

vegetated/moderately anoxic soil (redox ~200 mV)

** N retention (DNRA) favoured by unvegetated/highly

anoxic soil (redox ~150 mV or less)
Seibersdorf Laboratories

Capacity Building - Training course and

individual training
Training in Soil Water Management
Training Courses – field trip
Current issues/challenges

Land Degradation Water Management Abiotic Stress Crop Nutrition

Salinity
 SWMCN Laboratory Activities

Soil Water Adaptation to

Management Management Abiotic Stress
(2.1.1.1) Analysis
(2.1.1.2) (2.1.1.5)
 SWMCN projects
ƒ 2.1.1.1. Soil management and conservation
for sustainable agriculture and environment .

ƒ 2.1.1. 2. Technologies and practices for

sustainable use and management of water in
agriculture

ƒ 2.1.1.5. Integrated soil-plant approaches to

increase crop productivity in harsh
environments
 CRPs in Soil Management (2.1.1.1)

• Area-wide Precision Conservation to Control

the Impacts of Agricultural Practices on Land
Degradation and Soil Erosion (D1.20.11)

• Integrated Soil, Water and Nutrient Management

in Conservation Agriculture (D1.50.09
 CRPs in Water Management (2.1.1.2)

• Strategic placement and area-wide evaluation of

water conservation zones in agricultural
catchments for biomass production, water
quality and food security (D1.20.10)

• Managing irrigation water to enhance crop

productivity under water-limiting conditions
(D1.20.09)
CRPs in Crop Nutrition-Abiotic stress (2.1.1.5)

• Selection and Evaluation of Food (Cereal and

Legume) Crop Genotypes Tolerant to Low
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Soils (D1.50.10)
 Adaptation

• Area-wide Sustainable Land Management: To

enhance soil resilience and minimize soil
erosion and degradation.
• Enhance water use efficiency by crops through
better irrigation, improved soil moisture
conservation and nutrient management, and
change in cropping intensity.
• Optimize production of drought and salt-
tolerant crops.
• Integrated cropping-livestock production
systems
 Mitigation
• Enhancing soil carbon sequestration.
¾Integrated S-W-N in both cropping and grazing
lands.
¾Restoration of degraded lands.
¾Land use changes (agroforestry; cropping to
grasslands; conservation agriculture; reduced
tillage)
• Reducing GHG emissions
¾ CH4 and N2O: Higher GWP (global warming
potential) than CO2 (21 and 310 times).
¾ Enhanced N fertilizer use efficiency
 International Symposium on
Managing Soils for Food
Security and Climate Change
Adaptation and Mitigation

23-26 July 2012

Vienna, Austria
Soil and Water Management &
Crop Nutrition Subprogramme
http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/swmn/index.html