Effects of domestic sewage from different sources on greenhouse gas emission and related microorganisms in straw-returning paddy fields

Abstract

Reusing domestic sewage for crop irrigation is a promising practice, particularly in developing countries, since it is a substitute for chemical fertilizer and reduces water contamination. More attention was paid to the effect of sewage irrigation on crop yield and soil nutrients, but little attention was paid to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from straw-returning paddy fields. In this study, a soil column monitoring experiment was conducted to assess the effects of untreated domestic sewage (dominated with ammonia) and treated domestic sewage (dominated with nitrate) irrigation on methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, and related soil microorganisms in straw-returning paddy fields. Results showed that straw-returning dramatically promoted CH4 emission but had little effect on N2O emission. Both untreated and treated domestic sewage irrigation decreased CH4 emission of straw-returning paddy whether nitrogen fertilizer applied or not. The mitigating effect of treated sewage irrigation on CH4 emission was greater than untreated sewage irrigation. CH4 emission had a significant correlation with the abundance of soil methanogens and methanogens/methanotrophs. N2O emission increased with untreated or treated domestic sewage irrigation, although the total N input, including the N carried by sewage water, was the same for all treatments. No significant correlation between N2O and denitrification functional genes was found in this study. Treated domestic sewage irrigation reduced the global warming potential (GWP) by 66.7%, but untreated domestic sewage had no evident influence on the GWP. Results indicated that treated domestic sewage irrigation could significantly inhibit CH4 emission and the GWP by decreasing the ratio of methanogens to methanotrophs, and is promising in mitigating GWP from straw-returned paddy fields.