A 3‐year field measurement of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice paddies in China: Effects of water regime, crop residue, and fertilizer application

TLDR

A 3‑year field experiment measured methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice paddies under varied water regimes, crop residue incorporation, and synthetic fertilizer application. Midseason drainage lowered methane emissions but markedly increased nitrous oxide, with waterlogging status further amplifying N₂O; urea reduced CH₄ yet raised N₂O, while residue incorporation under a flooding‑midseason drainage‑reflooding‑moist intermittent irrigation regime without waterlogging increased CH₄ by 252 % and modestly altered N₂O, leading to a net GWP reduction compared to continuous flooding.

Abstract

A 3‐year field experiment was conducted to simultaneously measure methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from rice paddies under various agricultural managements including water regime, crop residue incorporation, and synthetic fertilizer application. In contrast with continuous flooding, midseason drainage incurred a drop in CH 4 fluxes while triggering substantial N 2 O emission. Moreover, N 2 O emissions after midseason drainage depended strongly on whether or not fields were waterlogged due to intermittent irrigation. Urea application tended to reduce CH 4 emissions but significantly increased N 2 O emissions. Under a water regime of flooding‐midseason drainage‐reflooding‐moist intermittent irrigation but without water logging (F‐D‐F‐M), both wheat straw and rapeseed cake incorporation increased CH 4 emissions by 252%, and rapeseed cake increased N 2 O by 17% while wheat straw reduced N 2 O by 19% compared to controls. Seasonal average fluxes of CH 4 ranged from 25.4 mg m −2 d −1 when no additional residue was applied under the water regime of flooding‐midseason drainage‐reflooding to 116.9 mg m −2 d −1 when wheat straw was applied at 2.25 t ha −1 under continuous irrigation flooding. Seasonal average fluxes of N 2 O varied between 0.03 mg N 2 O‐N m −2 d −1 under continuous flooding and 5.23 mg N 2 O‐N m −2 d −1 under the water regime of F‐D‐F‐M. Both crop residue‐induced CH 4 , ranging from 9 to 15% of the incorporated residue C, and N 2 O, ranging from 0.01 to 1.78% of the applied N, were dependent on water regime in rice paddies. Estimations of net global warming potentials (GWPs) indicate that water management by flooding with midseason drainage and frequent water logging without the use of organic amendments is an effective option for mitigating the combined climatic impacts from CH 4 and N 2 O in paddy rice production.