Higher rice yield and lower greenhouse gas emissions with cattle manure amendment is achieved by alternate wetting and drying

• Published in: Soil science and plant nutrition (Tokyo) Vol. 70; no. 2; pp. 129 - 138
• Main Authors: Pramono, Ali, Adriany, Terry Ayu, Al Viandari, Nourma, Susilawati, Helena Lina, Wihardjaka, Anicetus, Sutriadi, Mas Teddy, Yusuf, Wahida Annisa, Ariani, Miranti, Wagai, Rota, Tokida, Takeshi, Minamikawa, Kazunori
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kyoto Taylor & Francis 03.03.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Cattle; Cattle manure; Climate change; Crop production; Crop yield; Drying; Emissions; Farmyard manure; Field tests; Global warming; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Irrigation water; Manures; Methane; Nitrous oxide; organic amendment; Organic matter; Rice; Rice fields; Rice yield; Soil gases; Water management; Water scarcity; Wetting; Yields
• ISSN: 0038-0768; 1747-0765
• DOI: 10.1080/00380768.2023.2298775

Climate change and water scarcity threaten the sustainability of rice production systems. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a promising option to reduce methane (CH 4 ) emission from irrigated paddy fields. However, its effect on rice yield remains to be clarified. Organic amendment can increase rice yield but may also increase CH 4 emission. We therefore hypothesized that the combination of AWD with organic amendment could both increase rice yield and decrease CH 4 emission. We carried out field experiments in six consecutive rice seasons during 2019 − 2022 in Central Java, Indonesia. We examined the effect of water management (continuous flooding [CF] and AWD) with (+M) and without (−M) the amendment of cattle manure as a locally available organic matter on rice growth and yield and the emissions of CH 4 and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). AWD significantly (p < 0.05) decreased CH 4 emission by 29% but marginally (p < 0.1) increased N 2 O emission by 10% relative to CF. There was no significant effect of AWD alone on rice yield. AWD significantly increased water productivity (the ratio of rice yield to irrigated water volume) by 50%. Cattle manure amendment significantly increased CH 4 emission by 12% and rice yield by 5% but did not affect N 2 O emission. The combination effect of AWD+M relative to CF−M (control) was additive and resulted in a 7% increase in rice yield, a 19% decrease in the global warming potential (GWP) of CH 4  + N 2 O emissions during both growing and fallow periods, and a 24% decrease in yield-scaled GWP. Our results indicated that the combination of AWD with cattle manure amendment would be a promising means to increase rice yield while reducing total soil greenhouse gas emission from irrigated rice paddies.