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Properties of rice soils affecting methane production potentials: 1. Temporal patterns and diagnostic procedures

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Abstract

Thirty-one rice soils from different locations in the Philippines were incubated anaerobically for 100 d to determine methane (CH4) production potentials and to establish relationships between physico-chemical properties of soil and CH4 production potential. These soils showed pronounced variations in pattern and magnitude of CH4 production. Total CH4 production over 100 d incubation ranged from 163 to 837 μg CH4 g−1 soil. Total N, soil texture (clay and sand fractions mainly) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils had significant effect on CH4 production potential. Available K and active Fe content also affected the CH4 production potentials of various soils. An assessment of CH4 production with high accuracy could be obtained from soil redox potential (Eh) development during incubation; the difference between initial and equilibrium Eh allowed a computation of CH4 production with more than 70% reliability. The CH4 production potentials obtained over long incubation periods could be assessed, with reasonable accuracy, by a relatively short incubation experiments and fewer measurements of CH4 production. Only three samplings of CH4 production rate within a short incubation period of 37 d facilitated a prediction of total CH4 production over 100 d incubation using the following algorithm:P 0-100=99.21+10.79X4+11.69X16+45.79X37 (R2=0.91; P<0.01),where P 0-100 is the total CH4 production during 100 d of incubation and X n is CH4 production rate at n days of incubation. Longer incubation periods (86 d) were required to achieve a reliability of more than 95%.

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Author notes

  1. Sudip Mitra

    Present address: Center for Development Research (ZEFc), University of Bonn, Walter-Flex-Str.3, D-53113, Bonn, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil and Water Sciences Division, International Rice Research Institute, DAPO 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines

    Sudip Mitra & Reiner Wassmann

  2. Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research – Atmospheric Environmental Research – Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, D-82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

    Reiner Wassmann

  3. Division of Environmental Sciences, Nuclear Research Laboratory Building, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, India

    Mahesh C. Jain & Himanshu Pathak

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  1. Sudip Mitra
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  2. Reiner Wassmann
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  4. Himanshu Pathak
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Mitra, S., Wassmann, R., Jain, M.C. et al. Properties of rice soils affecting methane production potentials: 1. Temporal patterns and diagnostic procedures. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 64, 169–182 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021198714896

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