Impacts of Initial Fertilizers and Irrigation Systems on Paddy Methanogens and Methane Emission

Abstract

Methane production by methanogenic microbes under anaerobic condition is affected by the types of fertilizers, which determine carbon availability, used in rice fields. In addition, irrigation management controls oxygen availability in soil. Thus, irrigation management and types of fertilizers are major driving forces for methane emission in rice fields. While these factors affect paddy microbial communities over the course of cultivation, little is known about the effects of fertilizers and irrigation conditions on initial paddy microbial communities. In this study, we investigated the initial impacts of fertilizers and irrigation systems on paddy microbial communities and methane emission. At early stages of rice cultivation (2 weeks after transplanting 15-day-old rice seedlings), a high amount of methane was emitted from rice fertilized with swine manure. In addition, pre-transplantation flooding increased methane emission by 30 %. Although these conditions did not affect the overall paddy soil microbial communities, 126 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found to be significantly more abundant in paddy soils fertilized with swine manure. These OTUs included archaeal methanogenic species and bacterial substrate providers for biomethane production. Shared-OTU analysis with swine fecal microbial communities indicated swine manure as the origin of key methane-producing microbes. In conclusion, the applications of swine manure and permanent flooding irrigation introduce active methane producers and enhance methane emission, respectively, and should therefore be avoided.