Effect of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on greenhouse gas emissions in rice varieties

Abstract

Rice paddy fields are important sources of atmospheric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the most reactive organic matter fractions in the soil. However, the relationships between greenhouse gas emissions and DOM properties associated with different rice varieties in paddy fields are unclear. Here, a two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the relationships between DOM characteristics and microbial gene abundance on CH4 and N2O emissions in seven rice varieties. The dissolved organic carbon, dissolved sugar, and NH4-N and NO3-N contents were positively correlated with CH4 and N2O emissions, and dissolved phenol was negatively correlated with CH4 and N2O emissions. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and three-dimensional fluorescence (EEM) spectroscopy analysis further indicated that DOM includes more O-H and CO phenol and protein content, of which tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like protein materials were positively correlated with CH4 and N2O emissions. In addition, CH4 and N2O emissions were significantly correlated with microbial functional genes (mcrA, pmoA, AOA, AOB, nirS, and nosZ). The redundancy analysis indicated that dissolved organic carbon, dissolved sugar, NH4-N, NO3-N, and tyrosine-like and tryptophan-like proteins in the DOM were significantly correlated with soil microbial functional gene abundance, suggesting that DOM could regulate CH4 and N2O emissions by influencing microbial abundance. The rice variety with lower greenhouse gas emissions (YY 1540) had the highest yield. These results demonstrated that the differences in greenhouse gas emissions among different rice varieties were dependent on DOM properties and microbial abundance, providing a theoretical basis for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in rice paddy fields.