Coupled anaerobic methane oxidation and metal reduction in soil under elevated CO2.

Continued current emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and methane (CH4 ) by human activities will increase global atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations and surface temperature significantly. Fields of paddy rice, the most important form of anthropogenic wetlands, account for about 9% of anthropogenic sources of CH4 . Elevated atmospheric CO2 may enhance CH4 production in rice paddies, potentially reinforcing the increase in atmospheric CH4 . However, what is not known is whether and how elevated CO2 influences CH4 consumption under anoxic soil conditions in rice paddies, as the net emission of CH4 is a balance of methanogenesis and methanotrophy. In this study, we used a long-term free-air CO2 enrichment experiment to examine the impact of elevated CO2 on the transformation of CH4 in a paddy rice agroecosystem. We demonstrate that elevated CO2 substantially increased anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled to manganese and/or iron oxides reduction in the calcareous paddy soil. We further show that elevated CO2 may stimulate the growth and metabolism of Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens, which is actively involved in catalyzing AOM when coupled to metal reduction, mainly through enhancing the availability of soil CH4 . These findings suggest that a thorough evaluation of climate-carbon cycle feedbacks may need to consider the coupling of methane and metal cycles in natural and agricultural wetlands under future climate change scenarios.

Response of methylmercury in paddy soil and paddy rice to pristine biochar: A meta-analysis and environmental implications.

Biochar has received increased research attention due to its effectiveness in mitigating the potential risks of mercury (Hg) in agricultural soils. However, there is a lack of consensus on the effect of pristine biochar on the net production, availability, and accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in the paddy rice-soil system. As such, a meta-analysis with 189 observations was performed to quantitatively assess the effects of biochar on Hg methylation, MeHg availability in paddy soil, and the accumulation of MeHg in paddy rice. Results suggested that biochar application could significantly increase the production of MeHg in paddy soil by 19.01%; biochar could also decrease the dissolved and available MeHg in paddy soil by 88.64% and 75.69%, respectively. More importantly, biochar application significantly inhibited the MeHg accumulation in paddy rice by 61.10%. These results highlight that biochar could decrease the availability of MeHg in paddy soil and thus inhibit MeHg accumulation in paddy rice, although it might facilitate the net production of MeHg in paddy soil. Additionally, results also indicated that the biochar feedstock and its elementary composition significantly impacted the net MeHg production in paddy soil. Generally, biochar with a low carbon content, high sulfur content, and low application rate might be beneficial for inhibiting Hg methylation in paddy soil, meaning that Hg methylation depends on biochar feedstock. These findings suggested that biochar has great potential to inhibit MeHg accumulation in paddy rice, and further research should focus on selecting biochar feedstock to control Hg methylation potential and determine its long-term effects.

Ionome profiling and arsenic speciation provide evidence of arsenite detoxification in rice by phosphate and arsenite-oxidizing bacteria.

Arsenite (As(III)) as the most toxic and mobile form is the dominant arsenic (As) species in flooded paddy fields, resulting in higher accumulation of As in paddy rice than other terrestrial crops. Mitigation of As toxicity to rice plant is an important way to safeguard food production and safety. In the current study, As(III)-oxidizing bacteria Pseudomonas sp. strain SMS11 was inoculated with rice plants to accelerate conversion of As(III) into lower toxic arsenate (As(V)). Meanwhile, additional phosphate was supplemented to restrict As(V) uptake by the rice plants. Growth of rice plant was significantly inhibited under As(III) stress. The inhibition was alleviated by the introduction of additional P and SMS11. Arsenic speciation showed that additional P restricted As accumulation in the rice roots via competing common uptake pathways, while inoculation with SMS11 limited As translocation from root to shoot. Ionomic profiling revealed specific characteristics of the rice tissue samples from different treatment groups. Compared to the roots, ionomes of the rice shoots were more sensitive to environmental perturbations. Both extraneous P and As(III)-oxidizing bacteria SMS11 could alleviate As(III) stress to the rice plants through promoting growth and regulating ionome homeostasis.

Reducing cadmium in rice using metallothionein surface-engineered bacteria WH16-1-MT.

Cadmium (Cd) accumulation in rice grains poses a health risk for humans. In this study, a bacterium, Alishewanella sp. WH16-1-MT, was engineered to express metallothionein on the cell surface. Compared with the parental WH16-1 strain, Cd2+ adsorption efficiency of WH16-1-MT in medium was increased from 1.2 to 2.6 mg/kg dry weight. The WH16-1-MT strain was then incubated with rice in moderately Cd-contaminated paddy soil. Compared with WH16-1, inoculation with WH16-1-MT increased plant height, panicle length and thousand-kernel weight, and decreased the levels of ascorbic acid and glutathione and the activity of peroxidase. Compared with WH16-1, WH16-1-MT inoculation significantly reduced the concentrations of Cd in brown rice, husks, roots and shoots by 44.0 %, 45.5 %, 36.1 % and 47.2 %, respectively. Moreover, inoculation with WH16-1-MT reduced the bioavailability of Cd in soil, with the total Cd proportion in oxidizable and residual states increased from 29 % to 32 %. Microbiome analysis demonstrated that the addition of WH16-1-MT did not significantly alter the original bacterial abundance and community structure in soil. These results indicate that WH16-1-MT can be used as a novel microbial treatment approach to reduce Cd in rice grown in moderately Cd-contaminated paddy soil.

Mitigation of greenhouse gas emission by nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

Chemical nitrogen fixation by the Haber-Bosch method permitted industrial-scale fertilizer production that supported global population growth, but simultaneously released reactive nitrogen into the environment. This minireview highlights the potential for bacterial nitrogen fixation and mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soybean and rice fields. Nitrous oxide (N2O), a GHG, is mainly emitted from agricultural use of nitrogen fertilizer and symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Some rhizobia have a denitrifying enzyme system that includes an N2O reductase and are able to mitigate N2O emission from the rhizosphere of leguminous plants. Type II methane (CH4)-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs) are endophytes in paddy rice roots and fix N2 using CH4 (a GHG) as an energy source, mitigating the emission of CH4 and reducing nitrogen fertilizer usage. Thus, symbiotic nitrogen fixation shows potential for GHG mitigation in soybean and rice fields while simultaneously supporting sustainable agriculture.

Extended methane mitigation capacity of a mid-season drainage beyond the rice growing season: a case in Spain.

Rice cultivation is a major source of methane (CH4) emissions. Intermittent irrigation systems in rice cultivation, such as the mid-season drainage (MSD), are effective strategies to mitigate CH4 emissions during the growing season, though the reduction rates are variable and dependent on the crop context. Aeration periods induce alteration of soil CH4 dynamics that can be prolonged after flooding recovery. However, whether these changes persist beyond the growing season remains underexplored. A field experiment was conducted in Spain to study the effect of MSD implemented during the rice growing season on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in relation to the standard permanently flooded water management (PFL). Specifically, the study aimed at (1) assessing the CH4 mitigation capacity of MSD in the studied area and (2) testing the hypothesis that the mitigating effect of MSD can be extended into the following winter flooded fallow season. Year-round GHG sampling was conducted, seasonal and annual cumulative emissions of CH4 and N2O as well as the global warming potential were calculated, and grain yield was measured. MSD reduced growing season CH4 emissions by ca. 80% without yield penalties. During the flooded fallow season, MSD reduced CH4 emissions by ca. 60%, despite both fields being permanently flooded. The novelty of our observations lies in the amplified mitigation capacity of MSD by extending the CH4 mitigation effect to the following flooded winter fallow season. This finding becomes especially relevant in rice systems with flooded winter fallow season given the large contribution of this season to the annual CH4 emissions.

Effect of Iron Plaque on Gaseous Elemental Mercury Uptake, Translocation, and Volatilization by Paddy Rice.

Paddy rice is a typical wetland plant species, and mercury (Hg) accumulation in this rice has received much attention over the last two decades. The role of root iron plaque on rice Hg accumulation is not well understood. The effects of iron plaque on Hg0 uptake, translocation, and volatilization in rice seedlings were investigated under hydroponic conditions using different rice genotypes. After induction of iron plaque on rice roots with pretreatment solutions containing 0, 15 and 30 mg Fe2+L-1, rice seedlings were transplanted into specially designed airtight culture chambers, where roots were separated from the aerial parts and exposed to saturated Hg0 vapor. The results showed the following: (1) There were significant differences in the amount of iron plaque formed on the rice roots among the three genotypes. (2) A significant correlation was observed between the concentrations of Hg and Fe in the iron plaque of the root surface for the three genotypes (R2 = 0.933, p < 0.01). (3) Iron plaque may act as a barrier for Hg0 behavior, i.e., inhibiting the process of Hg0 uptake and translocation from the rhizosphere.

High-efficient L-lactic acid production from inedible starchy biomass by one-step open fermentation using thermotolerant Lactobacillus rhamnosus DUT1908.

The purpose of this study was to establish a simplified operational process for lactic acid (LA) production from inedible starchy biomass by open fermentation using thermotolerant Lactobacillus rhamnosus DUT1908. One step simultaneous liquefaction, saccharification and fermentation (SLSF) was proposed to produce LA using aging paddy rice with hull (APRH) as feedstock. First, a robust microbial strain was obtained by adaptive laboratory evolution under high temperature stress. As a result, L. rhamnosus DUT1908 showed high thermotolerance up to 50 °C and high efficiency of substrate utilization. Then, the performance of this thermotolerant L-lactic acid producing strain was demonstrated. Finally, various fermentation strategies were compared for LA production from APRH, including simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and SLSF. In one-step open SLSF process, 107.8 g/L lactic acid was obtained with a productivity of 3.4 g/(L.h) and a yield to theoretical glucose of 0.89 g/g. This is the highest yield and productivity of lactic acid reported on starchy residues, and provides an efficient route for the development of high value-added products.

Incidence of Root-Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne graminicola) and Resulting Crop Losses in Paddy Rice in Northern India.

Surveys of major rice growing districts in the state of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India were conducted for 3 consecutive years during 2013 to 2015 under a government-funded major research project to determine the frequency of occurrence and disease incidence of the rice root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne graminicola, in rice paddy fields. More than 800 paddy fields from 88 Tehsils (divisions within a district) in 18 major rice growing districts in Uttar Pradesh were surveyed, where M. graminicola was associated with root-knot disease in rice paddy fields based on morphological and molecular characterization of juveniles and adults. The highest frequency of disease in rice fields was observed in Aligarh (44.6%), followed by Muzaffarnagar, Shahjahanpur, and Kheri Lakhimpur (29.3, 28.0, and 27.4%, respectively). Maximum disease incidence was also recorded in Aligarh (44.6%), followed by Sultanpur, Mainpuri, and Muzaffarnagar (5.7, 5.2, and 4.5, respectively). Gall index and egg mass index values (on a 0 to 10 scale) were highest in Aligarh (3.5 and 2.1, respectively), followed by Muzaffarnagar (2.6 and 2.0) and Mainpuri (2.3 and 1.8). The average soil population of M. graminicola was highest in Aligarh (3,851 ± 297 second-stage juveniles [J2]/kg of soil), followed by Muzaffarnagar (2,855 ± 602 J2/kg of soil), whereas the lowest population was recorded in Barabanki (695 ± 400 J2/kg of soil) at the time of harvesting. Relative yield losses were also determined, and the highest yield loss attributed to M. graminicola infestation was recorded in Aligarh (47%). The yield loss was linearly correlated with the soil population density of M. graminicola and disease incidence.

Simultaneous liquefaction, saccharification, and fermentation of L-lactic acid using aging paddy rice with hull by an isolated thermotolerant Enterococcus faecalis DUT1805.

Simultaneous liquefaction, saccharification, and fermentation (SLSF) has attracted much attention for the production of bio-based chemicals, including L-lactic acid, due to its high efficiency and low cost. In this study, a lactic acid-producing bacterium with high tolerance of temperature up to 55 °C was isolated and characterized as Enterococcus faecalis DUT1805. Various strategies of stepwise controlled temperature were proposed and investigated for glucose utilization. The results indicated that E. faecalis DUT 1805 exhibited an optimal temperature at 50 °C, which could achieve temperature compatibility of enzyme, saccharification, and fermentation, and decrease the possibility of contamination by the other microorganisms during the large-scale fermentation. To reduce the cost of raw material and operation for lactic acid production, aging paddy rice with hull (APRH) was used in L-lactic acid production by simultaneous liquefaction, saccharification, and fermentation (SLSF). An open SLSF operation at 50 °C and pH 6.5, and 17% (w/v) solid loading in 5 L bioreactors was demonstrated with the lactic acid titer, yield, and productivity of 73.75 g/L, 87% to initial starch, and 2.17 g/(L h), respectively.

Diel O2 Dynamics in Partially and Completely Submerged Deepwater Rice: Leaf Gas Films Enhance Internodal O2 Status, Influence Gene Expression and Accelerate Stem Elongation for 'Snorkelling' during Submergence.

Deepwater rice has a remarkable shoot elongation response to partial submergence. Shoot elongation to maintain air-contact enables 'snorkelling' of O2 to submerged organs. Previous research has focused on partial submergence of deepwater rice. We tested the hypothesis that leaf gas films enhance internode O2 status and stem elongation of deepwater rice when completely submerged. Diel patterns of O2 partial pressure (pO2) were measured in internodes of deepwater rice when partially or completely submerged, and with or without gas films on leaves, for the completely submerged plants. We also took measurements for paddy rice. Deepwater rice elongated during complete submergence and the shoot tops emerged. Leaf gas films improved O2 entry during the night, preventing anoxia in stems, which is of importance for elongation of the submerged shoots. Expressions of O2 deprivation inducible genes were upregulated in completely submerged plants during the night, and more so when gas films were removed from the leaves. Diel O2 dynamics showed similar patterns in paddy and deepwater rice. We demonstrated that shoot tops in air enabled 'snorkelling' and increased O2 in internodes of both rice ecotypes; however, 'snorkelling' was achieved only by rapid shoot elongation by deepwater rice, but not by paddy rice.

The growth and uptake of Ga and In of rice (Oryza sative L.) seedlings as affected by Ga and In concentrations in hydroponic cultures.

Limited information is available on the effects of gallium (Ga) and indium (In) on the growth of paddy rice. The Ga and In are emerging contaminants and widely used in high-tech industries nowadays. Understanding the toxicity and accumulation of Ga and In by rice plants is important for reducing the effect on rice production and exposure risk to human by rice consumption. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of Ga and In on the growth of rice seedlings and examines the accumulation and distribution of those elements in plant tissues. Hydroponic cultures were conducted in phytotron glasshouse with controlled temperature and relative humidity conditions, and the rice seedlings were treated with different levels of Ga and In in the nutrient solutions. The growth index and the concentrations of Ga and In in roots and shoots of rice seedlings were measured after harvesting. A significant increase in growth index with increasing Ga concentrations in culture solutions (<10mgGaL-1) was observed. In addition, the uptake of N, K, Mg, Ca, Mn by rice plants was also enhanced by Ga. However, the growth inhibition were observed while the In concentrations higher than 0.08mgL-1, and the nutrients accumulated in rice plants were also significant decreased after In treatments. Based on the dose-response curve, we observed that the EC10 (effective concentration resulting in 10% growth inhibition) value for In treatment was 0.17mgL-1. The results of plant analysis indicated that the roots were the dominant sink of Ga and In in rice seedlings, and it was also found that the capability of translocation of Ga from roots to shoots were higher than In. In addition, it was also found that the PT10 (threshold concentration of phytotoxicity resulting in 10% growth retardation) values based on shoot height and total biomass for In were 15.4 and 10.6µgplant-1, respectively. The beneficial effects on the plant growth of rice seedlings were found by the addition of Ga in culture solutions. In contrast, the In treatments led to growth inhibition of rice seedlings. There were differences in the phytotoxicity, uptake, and translocation of the two emerging contaminants in rice seedlings.

Use pattern of pesticides and their predicted mobility into shallow groundwater and surface water bodies of paddy lands in Mahaweli river basin in Sri Lanka.

Pesticides applied on agricultural lands reach groundwater by leaching, and move to offsite water bodies by direct runoff, erosion and spray drift. Therefore, an assessment of the mobility of pesticides in water resources is important to safeguard such resources. Mobility of pesticides on agricultural lands of Mahaweli river basin in Sri Lanka has not been reported to date. In this context, the mobility potential of 32 pesticides on surface water and groundwater was assessed by widely used pesticide risk indicators, such as Attenuation Factor (AF) index and the Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) with some modifications. Four surface water bodies having greater than 20% land use of the catchment under agriculture, and shallow groundwater table at 3.0 m depth were selected for the risk assessment. According to AF, carbofuran, quinclorac and thiamethoxam are three most leachable pesticides having AF values 1.44 × 10-2, 1.87 × 10-3 and 5.70 × 10-4, respectively. Using PIRI, offsite movement of pesticides by direct runoff was found to be greater than with the erosion of soil particles for the study area. Carbofuran and quinclorac are most mobile pesticides by direct runoff with runoff fractions of 0.01 and 0.08, respectively, at the studied area. Thiamethoxam and novaluron are the most mobile pesticides by erosion with erosion factions of 1.02 × 10-4 and 1.05 × 10-4, respectively. Expected pesticide residue levels in both surface and groundwater were predicted to remain below the USEPA health advisory levels, except for carbofuran, indicating that pesticide pollution is unlikely to exceed the available health guidelines in the Mahaweli river basin in Sri Lanka.

Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming potential of traditional and diversified tropical rice rotation systems.

Global rice agriculture will be increasingly challenged by water scarcity, while at the same time changes in demand (e.g. changes in diets or increasing demand for biofuels) will feed back on agricultural practices. These factors are changing traditional cropping patterns from double-rice cropping to the introduction of upland crops in the dry season. For a comprehensive assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) balances, we measured methane (CH4 )/nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions and agronomic parameters over 2.5 years in double-rice cropping (R-R) and paddy rice rotations diversified with either maize (R-M) or aerobic rice (R-A) in upland cultivation. Introduction of upland crops in the dry season reduced irrigation water use and CH4 emissions by 66-81% and 95-99%, respectively. Moreover, for practices including upland crops, CH4 emissions in the subsequent wet season with paddy rice were reduced by 54-60%. Although annual N2 O emissions increased two- to threefold in the diversified systems, the strong reduction in CH4 led to a significantly lower (P < 0.05) annual GWP (CH4  + N2 O) as compared to the traditional double-rice cropping system. Measurements of soil organic carbon (SOC) contents before and 3 years after the introduction of upland crop rotations indicated a SOC loss for the R-M system, while for the other systems SOC stocks were unaffected. This trend for R-M systems needs to be followed as it has significant consequences not only for the GWP balance but also with regard to soil fertility. Economic assessment showed a similar gross profit span for R-M and R-R, while gross profits for R-A were reduced as a consequence of lower productivity. Nevertheless, regarding a future increase in water scarcity, it can be expected that mixed lowland-upland systems will expand in SE Asia as water requirements were cut by more than half in both rotation systems with upland crops.

Mapping paddy rice planting area in northeastern Asia with Landsat 8 images, phenology-based algorithm and Google Earth Engine.

Area and spatial distribution information of paddy rice are important for understanding of food security, water use, greenhouse gas emission, and disease transmission. Due to climatic warming and increasing food demand, paddy rice has been expanding rapidly in high latitude areas in the last decade, particularly in northeastern (NE) Asia. Current knowledge about paddy rice fields in these cold regions is limited. The phenology- and pixel-based paddy rice mapping (PPPM) algorithm, which identifies the flooding signals in the rice transplanting phase, has been effectively applied in tropical areas, but has not been tested at large scale of cold regions yet. Despite the effects from more snow/ice, paddy rice mapping in high latitude areas is assumed to be more encouraging due to less clouds, lower cropping intensity, and more observations from Landsat sidelaps. Moreover, the enhanced temporal and geographic coverage from Landsat 8 provides an opportunity to acquire phenology information and map paddy rice. This study evaluated the potential of Landsat 8 images on annual paddy rice mapping in NE Asia which was dominated by single cropping system, including Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and NE China. The cloud computing approach was used to process all the available Landsat 8 imagery in 2014 (143 path/rows, ~3290 scenes) with the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The results indicated that the Landsat 8, GEE, and improved PPPM algorithm can effectively support the yearly mapping of paddy rice in NE Asia. The resultant paddy rice map has a high accuracy with the producer (user) accuracy of 73% (92%), based on the validation using very high resolution images and intensive field photos. Geographic characteristics of paddy rice distribution were analyzed from aspects of country, elevation, latitude, and climate. The resultant 30-m paddy rice map is expected to provide unprecedented details about the area, spatial distribution, and landscape pattern of paddy rice fields in NE Asia, which will contribute to food security assessment, water resource management, estimation of greenhouse gas emissions, and disease control.

Fenton process-affected transformation of roxarsone in paddy rice soils: Effects on plant growth and arsenic accumulation in rice grain.

Batch and greenhouse experiments were conducted to examine the effects of Fenton process on transformation of roxarsone in soils and its resulting impacts on the growth of and As uptake by a rice plant cultivar. The results show that addition of Fenton reagent markedly accelerated the degradation of roxarsone and produced arsenite, which was otherwise absent in the soil without added Fenton reagent. Methylation of arsenate was also enhanced by Fenton process in the earlier part of the experiment due to abundant supply of arsenate from Roxarsone degradation. Overall, addition of Fenton reagent resulted in the predominant presence of arsenate in the soils. Fenton process significantly improved the growth of rice in the maturity stage of the first crop, The concentration of methylated As species in the rice plant tissues among the different growth stages was highly variable. Addition of Fenton reagent into the soils led to reduced uptake of soil-borne As by the rice plants and this had a significant effect on reducing the accumulation of As in rice grains. The findings have implications for understanding As biogeochemistry in paddy rice field receiving rainwater-borne H2O2 and for development of mitigation strategies to reduce accumulation of As in rice grains.

Object-Based Paddy Rice Mapping Using HJ-1A/B Data and Temporal Features Extracted from Time Series MODIS NDVI Data.

Accurate and timely mapping of paddy rice is vital for food security and environmental sustainability. This study evaluates the utility of temporal features extracted from coarse resolution data for object-based paddy rice classification of fine resolution data. The coarse resolution vegetation index data is first fused with the fine resolution data to generate the time series fine resolution data. Temporal features are extracted from the fused data and added with the multi-spectral data to improve the classification accuracy. Temporal features provided the crop growth information, while multi-spectral data provided the pattern variation of paddy rice. The achieved overall classification accuracy and kappa coefficient were 84.37% and 0.68, respectively. The results indicate that the use of temporal features improved the overall classification accuracy of a single-date multi-spectral image by 18.75% from 65.62% to 84.37%. The minimum sensitivity (MS) of the paddy rice classification has also been improved. The comparison showed that the mapped paddy area was analogous to the agricultural statistics at the district level. This work also highlighted the importance of feature selection to achieve higher classification accuracies. These results demonstrate the potential of the combined use of temporal and spectral features for accurate paddy rice classification.

Efficiency evaluation for remediating paddy soil contaminated with cadmium and arsenic using water management, variety screening and foliage dressing technologies.

Paddy soils in many regions of China have been seriously polluted by multiple heavy metals or metalloids, such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). In order to ensure the safety of food and take full advantage of the limited farmland resources of China, exploring an effective technology to repair contaminated soils is urgent and necessary. In this study, three technologies were employed, including variety screening, water management and foliage dressing, to assess their abilities to reduce the accumulation of Cd and As in the grains of different rice varieties, and meanwhile monitor the related yields. The results of variety screening under insufficient field drying condition showed that the As and Cd contents in the grains of only four varieties [Fengliangyouxiang 1 (P6), Zhongzheyou 8 (P7), Guangliangyou 1128 (P10), Y-liangyou 696 (P11)] did not exceed their individual national standard. P6 gained a relatively high grain yield but accumulated less As and Cd in the grains despite of the relatively high As and Cd concentrations in the rhizosphere soil. However, long-playing field drying in water management trial significantly increased Cd but decreased As content in the grains of all tested three varieties including P6, suggesting an important role of water supply in controlling the accumulation of grain As and Cd. Selenium (Se) showed a stronger ability than silicon (Si) to reduce As and Cd accumulation in the grains of Fengliangyou 4 (P2) and Teyou 524 (P13), and keep the yields. The results of this study suggest that combined application of water management and foliage dressing may be an efficient way to control As and Cd accumulation in the grains of paddy rice exposing to As- and Cd-contaminated soils.

Effect of replacing corn with whole-grain paddy rice and brown rice in broiler diets on growth performance and intestinal morphology.

The present study was conducted to investigate replacing corn with whole-grain paddy rice (WPR) and whole-grain brown rice (BR) in broiler chicken diets and its effect on growth performance and histological structures of the intestinal villi. Marshall Chunky male chicks (14 days old) were divided into five groups with four replicates of four chicks each. In the dietary treatments, corn in the basal diet was replaced with WPR and BR. The chickens received five experimental diets consisting of corn, WPR and BR in ratios of 100:0:0 (Control), 50:0:50 (50Corn + 50BR), 50:25:25 (50Corn + 25WPR + 25BR), 25:50:25 (25Corn + 50WPR + 25BR) and 0:50:50 (50WPR + 50BR) respectively. Feed and water were provided ad libitum for 35 day. No significant differences were found in feed intake, body weight gain and feed efficiency among the treatment groups. The relative weights of the gizzard in the 50Corn + 25WPR + 25BR, 25Corn + 50WPR + 25BR and 50WPR + 50BR groups were significantly higher than that of the Control and 50Corn + 50BR groups (p < 0.05). The gizzard pH of the experimental groups was lower than those of Control (p < 0.05). The ileal crypt of birds on the Control diets was deeper (p < 0.05) than those observed in the experimental birds. Moreover, the ileal villus height: crypt depth ratio increased (p < 0.05) in the 50WPR + 50BR group (p < 0.05) compared with the Control group. No specific changes were observed in the epithelial cells on the duodenal apical surface among the groups except that the villus of the 25Corn + 50WPR + 25BR group had cell clusters. The jejunal and ileal villus apical surface of the experimental groups showed similar morphology to the Control group. These findings suggest that WPR and BR can totally replace corn in broiler diets without negatively affecting growth performance.

Mapping paddy rice planting area in rice-wetland coexistent areas through analysis of Landsat 8 OLI and MODIS images.

Accurate and up-to-date information on the spatial distribution of paddy rice fields is necessary for the studies of trace gas emissions, water source management, and food security. The phenology-based paddy rice mapping algorithm, which identifies the unique flooding stage of paddy rice, has been widely used. However, identification and mapping of paddy rice in rice-wetland coexistent areas is still a challenging task. In this study, we found that the flooding/transplanting periods of paddy rice and natural wetlands were different. The natural wetlands flood earlier and have a shorter duration than paddy rice in the Panjin Plain, a temperate region in China. We used this asynchronous flooding stage to extract the paddy rice planting area from the rice-wetland coexistent area. MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) data was used to derive the temperature-defined plant growing season. Landsat 8 OLI imagery was used to detect the flooding signal and then paddy rice was extracted using the difference in flooding stages between paddy rice and natural wetlands. The resultant paddy rice map was evaluated with in-situ ground-truth data and Google Earth images. The estimated overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient were 95% and 0.90, respectively. The spatial pattern of OLI-derived paddy rice map agrees well with the paddy rice layer from the National Land Cover Dataset from 2010 (NLCD-2010). The differences between RiceLandsat and RiceNLCD are in the range of ±20% for most 1-km grid cell. The results of this study demonstrate the potential of the phenology-based paddy rice mapping algorithm, via integrating MODIS and Landsat 8 OLI images, to map paddy rice fields in complex landscapes of paddy rice and natural wetland in the temperate region.