Abstract
The sustainability of intensification of rice production is a prime concern for China. Application of organic amendments, changes in crop rotation system, ducklings’ introduction, and construction of vegetated drainage ditches are some of the original management strategies to mitigate environmental pollution from paddy fields. Although these practices affect the rice culturing system through different mechanisms, there is limited investigation on their effectiveness on nutrient pollution alleviation. Therefore, a field study was carried out with the assessment of soil physico-chemical properties, greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen removal efficiency, grain yield, and economic benefits by comparing the eco-rice culturing system (ER) to the local single rice cultivation system (CK). Results showed that the ER system can significantly improve soil fertility by increasing the pH in acidic soil, organic matter, total nitrogen (TN), and available potassium (K) content by 5.2%, 25.7%, 19.1%, and 19.4% in relation to CK, respectively. Meanwhile, about 10% of the total fertilizer N was removed from the harvesting of the plant species (Myriophyllum elatinoides and Pennisetum purpureum) in the vegetated drainage ditches. However, the ER system decreased the plant height (1.1%) and the number of tillers (9.6%), resulting in a reduction of the total grain yield (6.0%). Moreover, compared with the CK system, the ER system increased CH4 cumulative emission, global warming potential (GWP), and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) by 11.1%, 8.1%, and 14.3%, respectively, and decreased N2O by 27.2%, but not statistical significantly (p < 0.05). Even so, by taking the costs of farm operations and carbon costs of greenhouse gas emissions, the net economic benefits by applying the ER system were higher relative to the CK system. Thus, our study provides further understanding of the technology which has the potential to transform sustainable rice production to a more profitable, income generating, and environmentally friendly industry in China.
Highlights
China is the world’s largest producer, consumer, and importer of fertilizers, who’s overall yearly utilization has augmented from 15.1 Mt in 1982 to 58.4 Mt in 2012 [1]
Rice is the principal staple cereal crop in China, which accounts for 35% of the entire food agriculture [10], and the cultivated area allocated for its cultivation comprises 27% of the whole national area assigned for food generation [11]
Our results indicate that the ecological-rice (ER) agriculture system can increase soil pH and soil organic matter (SOM) contents, but decreased grain yield during the rice growing season
Summary
China is the world’s largest producer, consumer, and importer of fertilizers, who’s overall yearly utilization has augmented from 15.1 Mt in 1982 to 58.4 Mt in 2012 [1]. As a non-point pollution source, pollution from paddy fields due to the excessive use of chemical fertilization in Southeast China has become very serious nowadays Facing this situation, China’s ecologists and agronomists have begun to develop policies, patterns, and technologies associated with cleaner rice production. A new concept in Chinese rice production has been proposed, which is called ecological-rice (ER) agriculture [12] At its essence, this agricultural system contains a series of practices, such as the development of nutrient management plans [13], rice–livestock integrations [14], field drainage installations [15], and application of no-till agriculture [16], to achieve a balance between economic and environmental benefits. After several years of practice and development, ecological-rice agriculture in China has achieved substantial progress, as it has established a theoretical system and obtained useful acknowledge [23] and has demonstrated its effectiveness in county-level pilot studies [24]
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