The effect of water regime and soil management on methane (CH4) emission of rice field

Abstract

Mitigation of CH4 emission of rice field is becoming a serious issue. The Agricultural Environment Preservation Research Station in Central Java conducted a field study to investigate the effect of water regime and soil tillage on CH4 emission from paddy fields. Treatments consisted of two factors. The first factor was water regime, e.g., 1) continuously flooded 5 cm, 2) intermittent irrigation and 3) saturated water condition at 0-1 cm water level. The second factor was soil management, e.g., 1) normal tillage, 2) zero tillage + 3 sulfosate ha-1 and 3) zero tillage + 3 L paraquat ha-1. Most of treatments gave a significant reduction of total CH4 emission between 34 - 85% during the wet season crop as compared to normal rice cropping practice, while in the dry season the CH4 reduction ranged between 16 - 92%. No-tillage with non-selective herbicides combined with intermittent/saturated irrigation system significantly reduced methane emission without significantly affecting rice productivity as compared to normal tillage with continuous flooding (farmers practice)