Abstract
Data on greenhouse gas emission levels associated with fertilization applied in smallholder paddy rice farms in Ghana are scanty. The current study investigated fertilization types to determine their eco-friendliness on yield, Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Greenhouse Gas Intensity (GHGI) in a major rice season in the forest zone of Ghana. In total, five treatments were studied viz Farmer Practice (BAU); Biochar + Farmer Practice (BAU + BIO); Poultry Manure + Farmer Practice (BAU + M); Biochar + Poultry Manure + Farmer Practice (BAU + BIO + M); and Control (CT). Fluxes of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) were measured using a static chamber-gas chromatography method. N2O emissions at the end of the growing season were significantly different across treatments. BAU + BIO + M had highest N2O flux mean of 0.38 kgNha−1day−1 (±0.18). BAU + M had the second highest N2O flux of 0.27 kgNha−1day−1 (±0.08), but was not significantly different from BAU at p > 0.05. BAU+BIO recorded 0.20 kgNha−1day−1 (±0.12), lower and significantly different from BAU, BAU + M and BAU + BIO + M. CH4 emissions across treatments were not significantly different. However, highest CH4 flux was recorded in BAU+BIO at 4.76 kgCH4ha−1day−1 (±4.87). GWP based on seasonal cumulative GHG emissions among treatments ranged from 5099.16 (±6878.43) to 20894.58 (±19645.04) for CH4 and 756.28 (±763.44) to 27201.54 (±9223.51) kgCO2eqha−1Season−1 for N2O. The treatment with significantly higher yield and low emissions was BAU + M with a GHGI of 4.38 (±1.90) kgCO2eqkg−1.
Highlights
Agricultural systems represent a key source of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGE) and contribute at least 12% to global anthropogenic emissions [1,2,3]
Paddy rice production forms a significant percentage of emissions that are generated from agricultural production systems and in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) agricultural systems have been cited as an area where GHGE are expected to grow due to a growing population and the need to grow more food to feed the increase in population [4,5]
The utilization of organic soil amendments viz Biochar and poultry manure as components of the conventional inorganic means of soil amendments proved to have a positive effect on rice yield
Summary
Agricultural systems represent a key source of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGE) and contribute at least 12% to global anthropogenic emissions [1,2,3]. Paddy rice production forms a significant percentage of emissions that are generated from agricultural production systems and in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) agricultural systems have been cited as an area where GHGE are expected to grow due to a growing population and the need to grow more food to feed the increase in population [4,5]. The production of rice is an important source of potent greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide. Emissions from paddy rice production are principally methane and nitrous oxide due to waterlogged field conditions (anoxic environment) and nitrogen fertilizer usage, respectively. The largest growth of emissions was recorded in Africa at 2.7% annually [6] This growth in emissions is expected to increase as a response to high demand for rice to feed the growing population. The utilization of local materials, including Biochar from farm crop residues and poultry manure, has been touted to have the potential to provide a sustainable and cheap alternative to the conventional use of inorganic fertilization options in rice and other crop production [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
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