RICE SCIENCE

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Changes in Grain Yield of Rice and Emission of Greenhouse Gases from Paddy Fields after Application of Organic Fertilizers Made from Maize Straw

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology of Jiangsu Province, College of Agriculture, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; 2Taizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Zhejiang Province, Linhai 317000, China
  • Online:2014-07-28 Published:2014-07-24
  • Contact: YANG Jian-chang
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the grants from the National Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2009CB118603), the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC-IRRI Joint Research Project, Grant No. 31061140457), the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31071360 and 31271641), the Basic Scientific Research Special Operation Cost of the Central Research Institutions (Grant Nos. 201103003 and 201203079), the National Key Technology Support Program of China (Grant Nos. 2011BAD16B14 and 2012BAD04B08), and the Jiangsu Advantages of Key Construction Projects and Research Innovation Project by Graduate Student (Grant No. CXZZ13_0902)

Abstract:

A field experiment was conducted at the farm of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China, to study the effects of organic fertilizers made from maize straw on rice grain yield and the emission of greenhouse gases. Four organic fertilizer treatments were as follows: maize straw (MS), compost made from maize straw (MC), methane-generating maize residue (MR), and black carbon made from maize straw (BC). These organic fertilizers were applied separately to paddy fields before rice transplanting. No organic fertilizer was applied to the control (CK). The effects of each organic fertilizer on rice grain yield and emission of greenhouse gases were investigated under two conditions, namely, no nitrogen (N) application (0N) and site-specific N management (SSNM). Rice grain yields were significantly higher in the MS, MC and MR treatments than those in CK under either 0N or SSNM. The MS treatment resulted in the highest grain yield and agronomic N use efficiency. However, no significant difference was observed for these parameters between the BC treatment and CK. The changes in the emissions of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), or nitrous oxide (N2O) from the fields were similar among all organic fertilizer treatments during the entire rice growing season. The application of each organic fertilizer significantly increased the emission of each greenhouse gas (except N2O emission in the BC treatment) and global warming potential (GWP). Emissions of all the greenhouse gases and GWP increased under the same organic fertilizer treatment in the presence of N fertilizer, whereas GWP per unit grain yield decreased. The results indicate that the application of organic fertilizer (MS, MC or MR) could increase grain yield, but also could enhance the emissions of greenhouse gases from paddy fields. High grain yield and environmental efficiency could be achieved by applying SSNM with MR.

Key words: organic fertilizer, site-specific nitrogen management, rice, grain yield, greenhouse gas, maize straw