Nitrous oxide emissions from paddy fields under different water managements in southeast China

Water management is recognized as one of the most important factors in regulating nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from paddy fields. In China, controlled irrigation (CI) is widely applied because it has been proved highly effective in saving water. During the rice-growing season, the soil in CI paddy fields remains dry 60–80% of the time compared with soil irrigated by traditional methods. This study aims to assess N₂O emissions from paddy fields under CI, with traditional irrigation (TI) as the control. The cumulative N₂O emission from CI paddy fields was 2.5 kg N ha⁻¹, which was significantly greater than that from TI paddy fields (1.0 kg N ha⁻¹) (P < 0.05). Soil drying caused substantial N₂O emissions. The majority (73.9%) of the cumulative N₂O emission from CI paddy fields was observed during the drying phase, whereas no substantial N₂O emissions were observed when the soil was re-wetted after the drying phase. More and significantly higher peaks of N₂O emissions from CI paddy fields (P < 0.05) were also detected. These peaks were observed ~8 days after fertilizer application at water-filled pore spaces (WFPS) ranging from 78.0 to 83.5%, soil temperature ranging from 29.1 to 29.4°C, and soil redox potential (Eh) values ranging from +207.5 to +256.7 mV. The highest N₂O emission was measured 8 days after the application of base fertilizer at a WFPS of 79.0%, soil temperature of 29.1°C, and soil Eh value of +207.5 mV. These results suggest that N₂O emissions may be reduced obviously by keeping the WFPS higher than 83.5% within 10 days after each fertilizer application, especially when the soil temperature is suitable.