Higher rice productivity and lower paddy nitrogen loss with optimized irrigation and fertilization practices in a rice-upland system

Abstract

Intermittent irrigation and controlled-release fertilizers are considered effective practices for rice growth; however, their combined effects on nitrogen (N) loss from intensified agricultural lands remain unclear. Here, a two-year field experiment was conducted using two irrigation regimens (flooded irrigation, FI; controlled irrigation, CI) and two fertilizer types (conventional urea, CU, split applied; controlled-release blend fertilizer, CRBF, one-time basal applied) to investigate their effects on N turnover in rice upland systems. The results demonstrated that CI not only saved 56.7 % of irrigation water compared to FI but also increased rice yield (5.3 %) and N use efficiency (7.8 %). The significant reduction in water input and soil water content for the CI led to lower N leaching (47.5 %) and N runoff (20.2 %) than for the FI. In contrast, N2O emissions increased by 27.8 % under CI compared with FI. CRBF reduced NH3 volatilization by 18.8 % and improved N use efficiency by 14.0 %, due to decreased N diffusion from the soil to surface water compared to CU. However, the N runoff of the CRBF was 23.8 % greater than that of the CU. The CI-CRBF improved the rice yield by 6.3 % and decreased N loss (22.3 %) by reducing NH3 volatilization (21.4 %) and N leaching (46.9 %). The findings suggest CI-CRBF to be an eco-friendly and lightly simplified pattern in rice upland systems, with higher rice productivity and lower paddy N loss.