Alternate wetting and drying system (AWD) combined with farmyard manure to increase rice yield and reduce methane emission and water use

Abstract

Rice cultivation in flooded conditions is one of the methane emission sources. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of water management and farmyard manure application on grain yield, CH4 emissions, and water use efficiency. This study was conducted at the Indonesian Agricultural Environment Research Institute, Pati Central Java from November 2019 to March 2020. The treatments consisted of two factors, a) water management, namely 1) continuous flooding, at 5 cm (CF) and 2) Alternate Wetting-Drying, at 15 cm (AWD) system; and b) farmyard manure namely 1) farmyard manure application 2) without farmyard manure. The observed parameters were rainfall and air temperature, CH4 emissions, water level and milled dry grain. The measurement of CH4 gas emissions was conducted using a closed chamber method. The result of this study indicated that AWD management could increase grain yield by 3.3-8.5% and also reduce CH4 emissions by 12-14% compared to continuous flooding. AWD combined with organic fertilizer application produced the highest grain 7.27 tons ha-1 and emitted the lowest CH4. The AWD management also saved 32-38% of water compared to the continuous flooding.