Leaching behavior of nitrogen in a long-term experiment on rice under different N management systems.

The leaching behavior of nitrogen was studied in single rice paddy production ecosystems in Tsukuba, Japan after 75 years of consistent fertilization regimes (no fertilizer, ammonium sulfate, a combination of composted rice straw with soybean cake, and fresh clover). During the 75-year period, management was unchanged with respect to rice planting density, irrigation, and net N fertilization for each field to which an N-source was added. Percolation water was collected, from May 2001 to April 2002, using porous suction cups installed in the fields at depths of 15, 40, and 60 cm. All water samples were taken to the laboratory for the measurement of both NH(4) ( + )-N and NO(3) ( - )-N concentrations using a continuous-flow nitrogen analyzer. The result indicated that there were significant differences in N leaching losses between treatments during the rice growing season. Total N leaching was significantly lower with the application of composted rice straw plus soybean cake (0.58 kg N ha( - 1)) than with ammonium sulfate (2.41 kg N ha( - 1)), which resulted in N leaching at a similar level to that with the fresh clover treatment (no significant difference). The majority of this N leaching was not due to NO(3) ( - )-N loss, but to that of NH(4) ( + )-N. The mean N leaching for all fertilizer treatments during the entire rice growing season was 1.58 kg N ha( - 1). Composted rice straw plus soybean cake produced leaching losses which were 65-75% lower than those with the application of fresh clover and ammonium sulfate. N accumulation resulting from nitrification in the fallow season could be a key source of nitrate-N leaching when fields become re-flooded before rice transplanting in the following year; particular attention should be paid to this phenomenon.

[N2O and CH4 emission from Japan rice fields under different long-term fertilization patterns and its environmental impact].

This study intended to investigate the greenhouse gases emission from Japan single cropping paddy fields after 75-year continuous application of ammonium sulfate, composted rice straw with soybean cake, and fresh clover, as well as the environmental impact of the emission. During this long period, field management remained constant in terms of rice cultivation density, irrigation, and equivalent net N fertilization. No significant differences were observed in N2O emission among the fertilization treatments, but the CH4 emission differed significantly between organic amendment and ammonium sulfate application, indicating that long-term organic fertilization didn' t increase N2O emission but promoted CH4 emission. The cumulative global warming potential (GWP) of the CH4 and NO2O from the paddy ecosystem was the greatest (310.7 g CO2e x m(-2)) under fresh clover application, followed by composted rice straw plus soybean cake addition (151 g CO2e x m(-2)), and the least (60.6 g CO2e x m(-2)) under ammonium sulfate application. This study showed that for paddy system, it was CH4 instead of N2O the major factor affecting global warming, and thereby, to control and reduce the CH4 emission from paddy system would be the core in mitigating greenhouse gases emission from paddy field. Long-term consecutive application of composted rice straw plus soybean cake could increase soil organic matter, improve soil fertility, promote rice high-yielding, and as well, mitigate CH4 emission, being the recommendable paddy rice production mode in practice.