Effect of
organic materials and rice cultivars on methane emission from rice field
Maninder Kaur Khosa*, B.S. Sidhu and D.K. Benbi
Department
of Soils, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
- 141 001, India
(Received: March 05, 2009; Revised
received: August
05, 2009; Accepted: August 26, 2009)
Abstract: A field experiment was conducted for
two years on a sandy loam (Typic Ustochrept) soil of Punjab
to study the effect of organic materials and rice cultivars on methane emission
from rice fields. The methane flux varied between 0.04 and 0.93 mg m-2
hr-1 in bare soil and transplanting of rice crop doubled the methane
flux (0.07 to 2.06 mg m-2 hr-1). Among rice cultivars,
significantly (p < 0.05) higher amount of methane was emitted from Pusa 44
compared to PR 118 and PR 111. Application of organic materials enhanced
methane emission from rice fields and resulted in increased soil organic carbon
content. The greatest seasonal methane flux was observed in wheat straw amended
plots (229.6 kg ha-1) followed by farmyard manure (111.6 kg ha-1),
green manure (85.4 kg ha-1) and the least from rice straw compost
amended plots (36.9 kg ha-1) as compared to control (21.5 kg ha-1).
The differential effect of organic materials in enhancing methane flux was
related to total carbon or C:N ratio of the material.
The results showed that incorporation of humified organic matter such as rice
straw compost could minimize methane emission from rice fields with co-benefits
of increased soil fertility and crop productivity.
Key
words: Methane flux, Organic
materials, Rice cultivar, Greenhouse gases, Global
warming
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