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Land use legacies and nitrogen fertilization affect methane emissions in the early years of rice field development

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Abstract

Methane (CH4) emissions are critical to greenhouse gas (GHG) management in agriculture, especially in areas growing rice (Oryza sativa). However, studies on CH4 emissions and the nitrogen (N) fertilization effect in new rice fields in subtropical regions are still scarce. In this study, we designed a split-plot field experiment in Jiangxi Province, southern China, to examine whether land-use legacies and N fertilization would influence CH4 emissions. Using static chambers and gas chromatography, we measured CH4 fluxes in a newly developed rice paddy and a 10-year-old rice paddy. We also measured climatic factors and soil chemical and physical properties to match the flux measurements. The results showed that annual CH4 emissions in the new rice plots were significantly lower than in the old rice plots regardless of N fertilization. Annual CH4 emissions increased with the land-use years of rice paddies, following the order of 1 year < 2 years < 3 years < 10 years. N fertilization significantly decreased CH4 emissions by 36.9% in the first year after the new rice plots were developed, whereas it had no significant effects on CH4 emissions in the old rice plots or the new rice plots in the second and third years. The results suggest that land-use legacies have significant effects on CH4 emissions and may influence the N fertilization effect on CH4 emissions in rice fields in subtropical regions. The findings suggest that land-use legacies should be considered in managing and estimating GHG emissions in rice-growing regions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2012CB417103) and the Forestry Department of Sichuan Province (Carbon Accounting Project, 2009-204). We thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions in revising the manuscript. We thank Springer Nature English Language Editing for the language editing. We also thank the following persons for their help in field and laboratory work: Miaomiao Zhao, Jingdong Zou, Shihuang Zhang, Yubo Bin, Jiaying Lu, Ying Zhou, Yuanfen Huang and Ronghua Ou-yang.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Rui Shao, Ming Xu, Renqiang Li, Xiaoqin Dai, Lixiang Liu, Ye Yuan, Huimin Wang & Fengting Yang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Rui Shao & Ming Xu

  3. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Ming Xu

  4. College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, China

    Ye Yuan

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  1. Rui Shao
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Correspondence to Ming Xu.

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Shao, R., Xu, M., Li, R. et al. Land use legacies and nitrogen fertilization affect methane emissions in the early years of rice field development. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 107, 369–380 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-017-9838-x

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