Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830

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Agricultural Water Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat

Effects of irrigation regime and rice variety on greenhouse gas emissions

and grain yields from paddy fields in central China
Z.Y. Feng a, 1, T. Qin b, 1, X.Z. Du a, F. Sheng a, *, C.F. Li b, c, **
a
State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, Hubei, China
b
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain Industry, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434023, Hubei, China
c
MOA Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River / College of Plant Science & Technology, Huazhong
Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor - J.E. Fernández Increasing irrigation water scarcity is threatening global rice production and sustainability. Accordingly, the
cultivation of drought-resistant rice varieties has been strongly advocated to reduce the consumption of irrigation
Keywords: water. However, it remains unclear how the cultivation of drought-resistant rice affects greenhouse gas emis­
Alternate wetting and drying sions. Here, a two-year field experiment was conducted to elucidate the effects of irrigation regimes (AWD,
Drought-resistant rice
alternate wetting and drying; CF, continuous flooding) and rice varieties (drought-resistant rice 7Y88 and 7Y370,
Global warming potential
and conventional rice HHZ) on the grain yields and greenhouse gas (methane [CH4] and nitrous oxide [N2O])
Greenhouse gas intensity
Water use efficiency emissions from paddy fields. The experiment was performed in a split-plot design with three replications. The
results showed that AWD significantly reduced water inputs and grain yields compared with CF in both rice
growing seasons. On average, 7Y88 and 7Y370 significantly enhanced the water use efficiency by 37.6% and
51.5%, and the grain yields by 33.9% and 47.0% relative to HHZ, respectively. A trade-off between CH4 and N2O
emissions was observed under irrigation regimes. Compared with CF, AWD significantly reduced cumulative CH4
emissions by 64.9%, while increased cumulative N2O emissions by 160.0%, and decreased the grain yield by
11.6% on average. AWD also significantly reduced the global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas
intensity (GHGI) by 42.2% and 31.6%, respectively. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in GHG emissions, GWP
and GHGI were observed between drought-resistant rice varieties and HHZ. The rice variety 7Y370 resulted in
the lowest CH4 and N2O emissions, GWP and GHGI among all varieties under both irrigation regimes. These
results indicate that the rice variety 7Y370 can be recommended to simultaneously mitigate GWP and maintain
grain yields.

1. Introduction
As the staple crop for more than half of the world’s population, rice
(Oryza sativa) is planted in an area of 153 million ha, which accounts for
11% of the world’s arable land (Faiz-ul Islama et al., 2018). Over the
past few decades, water scarcity has become one of the biggest chal­
lenges for sustainable rice production. Thus, it is urgent to develop
water-saving technologies for rice cultivation (Xu et al., 2015). Rice field
is also a major anthropogenic source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
(Kritee et al., 2018), accounting for about 50% of total methane (CH4)
emissions and 10% of total nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from cropland,
respectively (Ullah et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2017).
China is the largest rice producer in the world, and accounts for
about 28.1% of the global rice production (He et al., 2020). Water
resource shortage has caused great challenges to sustainable rice pro­
duction in China. As a result, there have been great changes in irrigation
regime in China in recent decades (Guo and Zhou, 2007). Irrigation
regimes such as intermittent irrigation and alternating wetting and
drying (AWD) irrigation have been widely used as water-saving irriga­
tion techniques (Xu et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017). Previous studies
have reported that the optimized irrigation can reduce irrigation water
use and promote water productivity compared with the conventional
continuous flooding (CF) irrigation in China (Jiang et al., 2016a; Thakur
et al., 2016). For AWD irrigation, water is supplied when the soil water

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author at: College of Plant Science & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
E-mail addresses: shengfsk@163.com (F. Sheng), lichengfang@126.com (C.F. Li).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106830
Received 26 April 2020; Received in revised form 7 February 2021; Accepted 20 February 2021
Available online 27 February 2021
0378-3774/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Z.Y. Feng et al. Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830

potential at 15 cm below the soil surface reaches − 10 to − 30 KPa, or
when the surface water level declines to 15 cm below the soil surface
(Dang Hoa et al., 2018). AWD irrigation has been reported to contribute
to a reduction of 15–20% water use in lowland rice cultivation without
causing any yield reduction (Bhatia et al., 2004). Besides, AWD irriga­
tion also has the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
LaHue et al. (2016) reported 57–78% decreases in annual CH4 emissions
from rice fields under AWD irrigation. Hence, AWD irrigation is
becoming increasingly popular in Asian countries in the context of
increasing irrigation water scarcity for rice production (Chidthaisong
et al., 2018; Hyun-Hwoi et al., 2017).
Improvement of rice varieties may also hold great promise for both
increasing yield and reducing GHG emissions (Zhang et al., 2019). For
example, new rice varieties with a higher allocation of photosynthates to
the seeds may reduce the allocation of photosynthates belowground for
methanogens, and are thus conducive to the mitigation of CH4 emissions
(Jiang et al., 2017b). It has been reported that the application of new
varieties is a major approach to increase rice yields, accounting for
almost 50% of yield growth in all developing countries (Zhang et al.,
2019), and the replacement of traditional rice varieties with new vari­
eties in China over the past 50 years has significantly declined area- and
yield-scaled GHG emissions (Zhang et al., 2019). Drought-resistant rice
has been strongly advocated to reduce the consumption of irrigation
water for crop production in China (Yu et al., 2016). The rice is bred
from a female or male parent with good agronomic characters and a
strong tolerance to drought (Sun et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2016). However,
few studies investigated the effects of drought-resistant rice on GHG
emissions (Gorh and Baruah, 2019).
From past research that had been reviewed, it is known that drought-
resistant rice variety and water-saving irrigation could mitigate GHG
emissions, and their appropriate combination could effectively reduce
GHG emissions while maintaining rice yield. Our aim in this study is to
specifically quantify the important results for our given drought-
resistant rice varieties under the alternative wetting-drying irrigation
regime. Here, a two-year field experiment was designed to evaluate
single and interaction effects of irrigation regime and rice variety on the
yields and GHG emissions from rice field. The results can be important
contributions to tackling the climate change phenomenon with its
attending targeted zero carbon approach, as well as making sustainable
rice crop production under a limited water resources regime.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental site
The experimental site is located at Wudian village, Zaoyang city,
Hubei province, China (112◦ 40′ N, 32◦ 10′ E). This region has a subtrop­
ical continental monsoon climate with an average annual temperature of
15.5 ◦ C, mean annual precipitation of 750 mm, and annual average
sunshine time of 232 d. The experimental site has been cultivated with a
wheat-rice rotation for more than 10 years. The initial major properties
of the soil at 0–20 cm depth are as follows: pH 6.41 (extracted by H2O,
soil: water = 1:2.5), bulk density 1.27 g cm− 3, organic carbon (C) 19.20
g kg− 1, total nitrogen (N) 2.27 g kg− 1, nitrate anion (NO−3 ) 6.92 mg kg− 1,
− 1 − 1
ammonium cation (NH+ 4 ) 8.16 mg kg , total phosphate (P) 0.66 g kg ,
available P 91.96 mg kg− 1 (extracted by NaHCO3), total potassium (K)
9.88 g kg− 1, and available K 11.62 mg kg− 1 (extracted by CH3COONH4).
The meteorological data over the past two years were obtained from a
nearby weather station. Daily mean precipitation and air temperature
during the experimental period from 2018 to 2019 are shown in Fig. 1.
2.2. Experimental design
A field experiment of two-factor split-plot design with three repli­
cations was conducted in this study. The main factor was irrigation
regime, including CF and AWD (water was supplied when the soil water
potential reached − 30 kPa), and the sub-factor was rice variety,
comprising conventional rice variety (HHZ) and drought-resistant rice
varieties (7Y370 and 7Y88). Each plot was 36 m2 in area. Different va­
rieties were assigned into a randomized subplot with three replications.
The plots were separated from each other with ridges covered by black
plastic films inserted into a depth of 40 cm to avoid the movement of
water and fertilizer. Each plot was independently irrigated by pumping
water from a reservoir. The amount of irrigation water for each plot was
recorded by a water meter. The soil water potential was monitored daily
in the morning using a TEN90 soil tensiometer (Tuopu Yunnong

Temperature
36 Precipitation 160

34
140
32
120
30
Precipitation (mm)
Temperature (¡æ)

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Data (y/m/d)
Fig. 1. Daily mean precipitation and air temperature during the 2018 and 2019 rice growing seasons.

2
Z.Y. Feng et al.
Technology Co. Ltd., Hangzhou), which was permanently installed at
15 cm soil depth of the AWD plots for the entire growing season.
Twenty-day-old rice seedlings were transplanted on June 1st and
June 3rd, and the grains were harvested on October 1st and October 3rd
in 2018 and 2019, respectively. During the rice-growing season,
180 kg N ha− 1, 90 kg P2O5 ha− 1, and 180 kg K2O ha− 1 were applied. P
and K fertilizers were only used as basal fertilizers just after trans­
planting, and N fertilizers were applied just before the seedlings trans­
planting (50%), and at the tillering (30%), and jointing (20%) stages.
Three seedlings were planted per hill. The hills were spaced at
20 cm × 25 cm. Water management practices were set up at 15 days
after sowing. CF was conducted to keep the paddy soil continuously
flooded with 5–10 cm water layer except for drainage about 1–2 weeks
before harvest. For AWD, the field was re-irrigated to 1–2 cm water level
when the soil water potential reached the set level (–30 kPa) (Ullah
et al., 2018).
2.3. Measurements of water table, soil potential and redox potential
Water table and soil redox potential were measured every week from
sowing to harvest. The depth of the water table was monitored using
200 cm long PVC pipes with a diameter of 5 cm. The pipes were installed
in each main plot to a depth of 150 cm from the soil surface. The lower
circular surface (120 cm) of the pipe was perforated with 0.5 cm holes at
2 cm intervals before installation (Yao et al., 2012a). Eh meter elec­
trodes (SX712) (Yidian Scientific Instrument Co., Ltd., Shanghai) were
installed at 5 cm below the soil surface at each plot (Win et al., 2015).
Soil water potential was monitored daily in the morning using a TEN90
soil tensiometer as mentioned above.
2.4. Measurements of grain yields, yield components and crop water
productivity (CWP)
Rice grains within three 2 m × 2 m frames of each plot were
collected to calculate the yield and yield components. The grains were
air-dried and adjusted to a 14% moisture content. CWP was calculated
by dividing the rice grain yield by total water consumption (Fernández
et al., 2020) as shown below:
CWP (kg m− 3) = Grain yields / Water consumption (1)
2.5. Measurements of soil dissolved organic C (DOC), NO−3 and NH+
4 (Table 1). On average, AWD saved 59.9% and 63.2% of irrigation water
concentrations
After the rice was harvested, the soil of 0–5 cm depth was taken with
a cylindrical sampler with a diameter of 5 cm. Five points of soils were
randomly sampled from each plot. The impurities were removed and the
soil was mixed evenly. The method used to determine DOC was
described by Lu (2000). The concentrations of NO−3 and NH+ 4 in soil were
measured according to the method of Lu (2000).
2.6. Measurements of N2O and CH4 fluxes
CH4 and N2O fluxes were determined by the static chamber-gas
chromatography, with specific descriptions such as Li et al. (2013).
The sampling chamber is a 1.1 m high steel barrel with a diameter of
0.3 m and built-in fans and a thermometer. A 30 ml syringe was used to
extract the gas from the barrel through the three-way valve and inject it
into a 30 ml glass vial that had been vacuumed beforehand. The sam­
pling interval was 10 min, and the sampling time was 0 min, 10 min,
20 min and 30 min. At the same time, the barrel height and air tem­
perature inside the chamber were recorded. The gas was collected in
about 7-day intervals until the harvest. The Shimadzu GC-14B gas
chromatograph was used to analyze the concentrations of N2O and CH4
3
Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830
in gas samples (Zhang et al., 2016). The N2O and CH4 fluxes are
calculated according to the method as described by Li et al. (2013).
2.7. Calculation of cumulative N2O and CH4 emissions, GWP and GHGI
Seasonal cumulative N2O and CH4 emissions were sequentially
accumulated from the fluxes between every two adjacent intervals of
measurements (Wang et al., 2020).
GWP based on the N2O and CH4 emissions was obtained at the 100-
year time horizon using the following equation (IPCC, 2014):
GWP (t CO2 equivalent ha–1) = 265 × N2O + 28 × CH4 (2)
Greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) was used to measure the GHG
emissions per unit of grain production (Xiong et al., 2015):
GHGI (t CO2 equivalent t− 1) = GWP / grain yields (3)
2.8. Data analysis
Statistical analyses of data were conducted using SPSS 19.0 (SPSS
Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Two- way ANOVA was conducted to evaluate the
effects of rice varieties, water managements and their interactions.
Duncan’s multiple range test was performed to examine the differences
between the mean values. Differences with values at P < 0.05 were
considered as statistically significant.
3. Results
3.1. Water table, soil potential and redox potential
The water table and redox potential of rice field were − 17.2–4.8 cm
and 14–382 mV under AWD, respectively, which were significantly
lower than those under CF (Figs. 2 and 4). The soil water potential
ranged from –39–0 KPa from different rice varieties under AWD (Fig. 3).
3.2. Irrigation water amount, grain yield, yield components and CWP
The total rainfall was 295.2 mm during the rice growing season of
2018, and close to 292.8 mm in 2019 (Fig. 1). The amount of irrigation
water under AWD was 268 and 253 mm in 2018 and 2019, respectively
in 2018 and 2019 compared with CF, respectively.
Irrigation regime, rice variety and study year showed significant
effects on grain yields (Tables 2 and 3). Compared with CF, AWD
obviously reduced the rice grain yield by 12.6% on average. Compared
with HHZ, drought-resistant rice varieties 7Y88 and 7Y370 showed
remarkably higher grain yields by 33.9% and 47.0% on average,
respectively. In general, rice grain yield was not affected by two-way or
three-way interactions. For the components of grain yield, AWD
significantly decreased the number of effective panicles and seed setting
rate (Tables 2 and 4). Drought-resistant rice varieties (7Y88 and 7Y370)
exhibited a larger number of effective panicles and a higher seed setting
rate than HHZ. Different irrigation regimes had no difference in impact
on the spikelet number and 1000 grain weight, while drought-resistant
rice showed advantages in spikelet number and 1000 grain weight over
HHZ. Study year only showed significant effect on the number of
effective panicles. There were non-significant two-way or three-way
interactions on spikelet number, seed setting rate and 1000 grain
weight (Table 2).
Irrigation regime and study year significantly affected CWP
(Table 2). AWD significantly enhanced the CWP by 54.3% relative to CF
(Table 3). CWP was not significantly affected by rice variety. Moreover,
there were non-significant two-way or three-way interactions on CWP.
Z.Y. Feng et al. Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830

AWD
CF
10

0
Water table (cm)

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/9

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Data (y/m/d)
Fig. 2. Seasonal changes in water table under different irrigation treatments in 2018 and 2019. CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and drying. The
bars represent standard deviation of the mean (n = 3).

HHZ
10 7Y88
7Y370
5

-5

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Soil potential (KPa)

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Data (y/m/d)
Fig. 3. Seasonal changes in soil water potential from different treatments under AWD in 2018 and 2019. AWD, alternating wetting and drying. The bars represent
standard deviation of the mean (n = 3).

3.3. DOC, NO−3 and NH+

4 concentrations irrigation regime, rice variety and study year (Table 5). AWD decreased
DOC and NH+ 4 concentrations by an average of 33.9% and 39.2%,
The soil DOC, NO−3 and NH+
4 concentrations after harvest varied with respectively, and enhanced NO-3 concentration by 78.05% relative to CF.

4
Z.Y. Feng et al. Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830

CF+HHZ
CF+7Y88
CF+7Y370
900 AWD+HHZ
800 AWD+7Y88
AWD+7Y370
700
600
500
Soil redox potential (mV)

400
300
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100
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Data (y/m/d)
Fig. 4. Seasonal changes in soil redox potential under different treatments in 2018 and 2019. CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and drying. The bars
represent standard deviation of the mean (n = 3).

3.4. CH4 and N2O emissions

Table 1
Irrigation amount over the rice-growing seasons of 2018 and 2019.
Similar CH4 flux patterns were observed among all treatments during
Year Irrigation regime Irrigation amount (mm) the rice-growing season of 2018 and 2019 (Fig. 2). Peaks of CH4 emis­
2018 CF 969 sions were observed at the tillering and heading stages. Moreover, the
AWD 268 peaks of CH4 emissions reached as high as 58.74 mg m–2 h–1 and
2019 CF 1069 61.85 mg m–2 h–1 for HHZ under CF in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The
AWD 253
fluxes ranged from 1.1 to 58.74 mg m–2 h–1 in 2018 and
CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and drying. 1.28–61.85 mg m–2 h–1 in 2019 across all treatments. Seasonal cumu­
lative CH4 emissions under CF reached a total of 582.7 kg ha− 1 on
Compared with HHZ, 7Y88 and 7Y370 significantly decreased the DOC, average, while those under AWD were significantly lower by 64.9%
NO−3 and NH+ 4 concentrations by 11.5%, 21.2% and 12.8%, and by (Table 6). Drought-resistant rice varieties showed a mitigating effect on
14.8%, 25.9% and 23.4% on average, respectively. Study year signifi­ CH4 emissions relative to HHZ. Moreover, CH4 emissions were not
cantly affected DOC and NH+ 4 concentrations. The interaction of irri­ significantly affected by the two-way or three-way interactions
gation regime, rice variety and study year showed significant effects on (Table 2).
the soil NO−3 and NH+4 concentrations. N2O flux peaks were observed at the first and second topdressing
(Fig. 3). The highest flux was observed for HHZ under AWD, which was

Table 2
Grain yield and its components, CWP, CH4 and N2O emissions, GWP, GHGI and soil parameters as affected by irrigation regime, rice variety, study year and their
interactions. F-values are provided for significant effect.
Factors Grain Effective Spikelet Seed 1000 CWP CH4 N2O GWP GHGI DOC NO-3 NH+
4
yields panicle numbers setting grain
numbers rate weight

I 90.4** 223.6** 6.14* 17.4** ns 5047.6** 2631.6** 674.5** 673.5** 873.7** 474.0** 3265.9** 1913.8**
V 281.2** 638.3** 76.5** 4.28* 9.76** ns 15.3** 5.22* 13.1** 580.9* 27.4** 370.0** 191.7**
Y 8.87** 6.55* ns ns ns 120.3** ns ns ns ns 15.9** ns 56.6**
I×V ns 56.9** ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns
I×Y ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns 6.85* ns
V×Y 20.6** 9.70** ns ns ns ns ns ns ns 37.3** ns ns ns
I×V×Y ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns 3.51* 4.46*

I, irrigation regime; V, rice variety; Y, study year; CWP, crop water productivity; GWP, global warming potential; GHGI, greenhouse gas intensity; DOC, dissolved
organic C. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ns, not significant.

5
Z.Y. Feng et al. Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830

Table 3 0.61 and 0.68 mg m–2 h–1 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The N2O
Grain yields and CWP under different treatments in 2018 and 2019. fluxes under all treatments ranged from 0 to 0.61 mg m–2 h–1 in 2018
Treatment Grain yield (t ha− 1) CWP (kg m− 3) and 0.01–0.68 mg m–2 h–1 in 2019. Most of N2O was emitted after the
topdressing period in the rice-growing season, which on average
2018 2019 2018 2019
accounted for 60.0% of the total N2O emissions. As a whole, the seasonal
Irrigation cumulative N2O emissions under AWD (18.01 kg ha− 1) were signifi­
regime
CF 9.12 ± 1.51 a 8.88 ± 0.81 0.59 ± 0.05 0.63 ± 0.04
cantly increased by 160.6% compared with those under CF. Drought-
a b b resistant rice obviously decreased N2O emissions relative to HHZ
AWD 8.16 ± 2.03 b 7.75 ± 1.38 1.26 ± 0.03 1.38 ± 0.04 under both AWD and CF (Table 6). Moreover, N2O emissions were not
b a a significantly affected by the two-way or three-way interactions
Rice variety
(Table 2).
HHZ 6.38 ± 1.01 b 7.02 ± 1.08c 0.94 ± 0.33 1.05 ± 0.43
a a
7Y88 9.43 ± 0.60 a 8.42 ± 0.54 0.91 ± 0.39 1.03 ± 0.48
b a a 3.5. GWP and GHGI
7Y370 10.12 ± 0.33 9.50 ± 0.38 0.94 ± 0.38 1.04 ± 0.43
a a a a
Both GWP and GHGI were significantly affected by irrigation regime
Different letters in a column mean significant differences among treatments at and rice variety (Table 6). Compared with CF, AWD significantly
the 5% level. CWP, crop water productivity; CF, continuous flooding; AWD, decreased the GWP and GHGI by 43.1% and 33.2% in 2018 and by
alternating wetting and drying. The values are mean ± standard deviation 41.2% and 30.0% in 2019, respectively. Among the rice varieties, HHZ
(n = 3). resulted in the highest GWP over the two years of experiment, followed
by 7Y88 and 7Y370. In both seasons, the GHGI among different varieties
followed the order of HHZ > 7Y88 > 7Y370. In general, two-way or
three-way interactions showed no effect on the GWP and GHGI

Table 4
Rice yield components under different treatments in 2018 and 2019.
Treatment Effective panicle numbers (×104 ha− 1) Spikelet numbers (per panicle) Seed setting rate (%) 1000 grain weight (g)

2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019

Irrigation regime
CF 264.1 ± 43.0 a 266.5 ± 54.7 a 166.7 ± 34.0 a 163.7 ± 34.5 a 83.3 ± 5.4 a 82.8 ± 3.4 a 26.1 ± 3.8 a 25.8 ± 3.8 a
AWD 231.9 ± 23.5 b 239.6 ± 30.3 b 150.5 ± 39.6 a 153.3 ± 38.0 a 78.0 ± 3.2 b 77.0 ± 3.9 b 24.9 ± 3.7 a 24.9 ± 2.6 a
Rice variety
HHZ 291.7 ± 32.4 a 309.0 ± 33.4 a 113.3 ± 19.0 b 113.2 ± 15.5 b 82.9 ± 1.7 a 83.0 ± 3.5 a 22.1 ± 1.7 b 22.6 ± 0.7 b
7Y88 224.4 ± 12.3 b 222.1 ± 7.9 b 178.9 ± 17.0 a 175.9 ± 14.5 a 78.8 ± 2.6 a 78.0 ± 4.1 b 26.6 ± 0.8 a 26.3 ± 2.8 a
7Y370 227.8 ± 11.1 b 228.0 ± 13.5 b 183.7 ± 15.1 a 184.8 ± 13.5 a 80.2 ± 7.0 a 78.8 ± 5.1 b 27.8 ± 4.0 a 27.2 ± 3.1 a

Different letters in a column mean significant differences among treatments at the 5% level. CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and drying. The values
are mean ± standard deviation (n = 3).

Table 5
Soil DOC, NO− 3 and NH+4 contents after harvest under different treatments in 2018 and 2019.
Treatment DOC (mg kg− 1) NO-3 (mg kg− 1) NH+ − 1
4 (mg kg )

2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019

Irrigation regime
CF 579.1 ± 49.4 a 533.4 ± 54.1 a 14.66 ± 2.84 b 14.44 ± 3.82 b 11.30 ± 0.98 a 11.89 ± 1.34 a
AWD 379.4 ± 30.9 b 355.9 ± 30.6 b 25.50 ± 2.59 a 26.31 ± 2.41 a 6.57 ± 1.11 b 7.54 ± 1.05 b
Rice variety
HHZ 522.8 ± 124.9 a 489.8 ± 120.0 a 23.57 ± 5.74 a 24.42 ± 5.50 a 10.10 ± 2.43 a 11.12 ± 2.69 a
7Y88 463.5 ± 111.8 b 432.4 ± 88.3 b 18.82 ± 6.10 b 19.01 ± 6.98 b 8.91 ± 2.72 ab 9.59 ± 2.15 ab
7Y370 451.5 ± 98.7 b 411.7 ± 91.6 b 17.86 ± 6.06 b 17.70 ± 7.09 b 7.80 ± 2.67 b 8.45 ± 2.35 a

Different letters in a column mean significant differences among treatments at the 5% level. DOC, dissolved organic C; CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating
wetting and drying. The values are mean ± standard deviation (n = 3).

Table 6
Seasonal cumulative emissions of CH4 and N2O, GWP and GHGI under different treatments in 2018 and 2019.
Treatment CH4 emissions (kg ha− 1) N2O emissions (kg ha− 1) GWP (t CO2-eq. ha− 1) GHGI (t CO2-eq. t− 1)

2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019 2018 2019

Irrigation regime
CF 591.3 ± 41.3 a 574.0 ± 36.6 a 6.84 ± 2.23 b 6.99 ± 3.06 b 18.37 ± 1.23 a 17.93 ± 0.87 a 2.08 ± 0.49 a 2.03 ± 0.27 a
AWD 200.3 ± 28.4 b 209.0 ± 43.5 b 18.28 ± 2.47 a 17.74 ± 1.99 a 10.45 ± 0.87 b 10.55 ± 0.75 b 1.39 ± 0.51 b 1.42 ± 0.37 b
Rice variety
HHZ 426.2 ± 230.2 a 414.7 ± 206.7 a 13.59 ± 7.14 a 13.16 ± 7.07 a 15.54 ± 4.70 a 15.10 ± 4.21 a 2.39 ± 0.37 a 2.11 ± 0.28 a
7Y88 390.2 ± 203.4 b 388.7 ± 205.8 ab 12.37 ± 6.32 ab 12.26 ± 6.18 ab 14.21 ± 4.19 b 14.13 ± 4.14 ab 1.50 ± 0.39 b 1.66 ± 0.39 b
7Y370 391.3 ± 200.3 b 371.1 ± 197.2 b 11.72 ± 6.53 b 11.69 ± 5.99 b 13.50 ± 4.32 b 13.49 ± 3.99 b 1.32 ± 0.39c 1.41 ± 0.37c

Different letters in a column mean significant differences among treatments at the 5% level. CF, continuous flooding; GWP, global warming potential; GHGI,
greenhouse gas intensity; CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and drying. The values are mean ± standard deviation (n = 3).

6
Z.Y. Feng et al.
(Table 2).
4. Discussion
4.1. Effects of irrigation regime and rice variety on rice yield and CWP
Inconsistent results have been reported about the effect of AWD on
grain yields. Some studies have reported decreases in rice grain yields
under AWD (Lagomarsino et al., 2016a; Linquist et al., 2015; Xu et al.,
2015), whereas in other studies, it was found that AWD caused no yield
reduction (Belder et al., 2005; Carrijo et al., 2018; Dong et al., 2011;
Setyanto et al., 2018; Yao et al., 2012b), or even increases in yields (Liu
et al., 2013; Ullah et al., 2018). In this study, AWD significantly
decreased the rice grain yield compared with CF (Table 3). This
discrepancy among studies may be attributed to various factors such as
drought degree, time of implementation, rice variety, soil moisture
monitoring methods, weather and soil hydrological conditions of the
experimental site (Linquist et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2009). Decreases in
the yield under AWD (Table 3) might due to the decrease in effective
panicles and seed setting rate (Table 4). Drought-induced reduction of
chlorophyll content and performance of chlorophyll in photosynthesis
can decrease the photosynthesis rate (Shukla et al., 2013), which may
cause the reduction of crop yields (Thilakarathne et al., 2013). About
12% reduction in yields under AWD (Table 3) is huge for the farmers,
suggesting that the soil water potential of − 30 kPa conducted in this
study is too dry for rice growth and thus an optimum threshold level of
soil water potential or a “safe” AWD should be adopted to avoid yield
losses. Boumanet al. (2007) indicated if the rice field is re-irrigated to
ensure that the water level is not more than 15 cm below the soil surface
(termed “safe” AWD) rice yields would not be reduced. Carrijo et al.
(2017) conducted by a meta-analysis to discuss AWD effect son rice
yields, and found that when field water level did not drop below 15 cm
from the soil surface or soil water potential was ≥− 20 kPa, the yields
were not significantly reduced in most cases. Therefore, in this study an
optimum threshold level of soil water potential under AWD (≥− 20 kPa)
or field water level ≤ 15 cm might be proposed for maintaining rice
yield.
In this study, the yields of HHZ, 7Y88 and 7Y370 showed significant
differences regardless of irrigation regime (Table 3). The superiority of
the drought-resistant rice varieties (7Y88 and 7Y370) in yields over
conventional rice variety (HHZ) under AWD may be ascribed to the
genetic and physiological factors. 7Y88 and 7Y370 are three-line hybrid
rice varieties with Huhan 7A as the female parent and R370 as the male
parent. The female parent Huhan 7A has good agronomic characters and
a strong tolerance to drought (Yu et al., 2016). Differences in photo­
synthetic efficiency among rice varieties may also contribute to differ­
ences in yield potential among them under AWD (Gorh and Baruah,
2019). Hence, the larger number of effective panicles and spikelets as
well as the higher seed setting rate of 7Y88 and 7Y370 than of HHZ
(Table 4) may be ascribed to higher photosynthetic rates.
Irrigation regime was found to significantly affect CWP in this study.
AWD reduced the amount of water consumption by 61.5% and increased
the CWP by 53.2% on average relative to CF (Table 3), which may be
due to decreases in seepage, percolation and evapotranspiration of water
(Lampayan et al., 2014). Moreover, AWD may promote the growth and
development of the deeper root system to enhance the tolerance of rice
plants to water stress (Thakur et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2012). AWD can
also increase the proportion of productive tillers to promote plant
growth, which indirectly improves the CWP (Yang and Xie, 2010).
Similar results have been reported by previous studies (Wang et al.,
2020; Xu et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2018).
4.2. Effects of irrigation regime and rice variety on CH4 and N2O
emissions
In this study, peaks in CH4 fluxes were found at the tillering and
7
Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830
heading stages of rice (Fig. 5), which might be due to the enhancement
of CH4 transportation through rice plants induced by augmented
aerenchyma cells at the tillering stage (Gupta et al., 2002), and increases
in CH4 production owing to the increase in C resource (Table 5), as well
as mobilization of more micronutrients for methanogens due to
increased root exudation at the heading stage (Lu et al., 2000). N2O flux
peaked in the late July and late August under all treatments (Fig. 6).
These peaks of N2O emissions could be due to increases in the avail­
ability of N for soil microbes from urea topdressing during these periods
(Xu et al., 2015).
AWD was found to dramatically decrease the CH4 emissions in this
study (Table 6). Methane is an end product of anaerobic organic matter
decomposition (Conrad, 2002). The establishment of strictly anaerobic
soil conditions (< − 200 mV) is a prerequisite for methanogenic activity
(Pittelkow et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2003). Under continuous flooding, the
decreases in dissolved O2 and redox potential are conducive to the
anaerobic microbial decomposition of organic matter by methanogens
(Lagomarsino et al., 2016b). In contrast to CF, AWD can greatly improve
soil aeration and subsequently enhance the soil redox potential (Fig. 4),
thus preventing CH4 formation by inhibiting methanogens (Ma et al.,
2012; Xu et al., 2015). Moreover, AWD can also activate the process of
CH4 oxidation (Zhao et al., 2019) and decrease the content of soil DOC
(Table 5), which is the substrate for methanogenesis (Peyron et al.,
2016), and can subsequently reduce CH4 emissions. The rapid miner­
alization of the readily available organic matter pool under oxic con­
ditions might be responsible for the decrease in DOC concentration
(Peyron et al., 2016). Our findings are similar to those of Li et al. (2005);
Xu et al. (2015) and Lagomarsino et al. (2016a).
In terms of rice variety, HHZ resulted in higher CH4 emissions than
7Y88 and 7Y370 (Table 6). It has been reported that GHG emissions vary
considerably with the varieties due to the different influence of plants’
physiology on the O2 transport rate (Baruah et al., 2010; Shang et al.,
2011a). The higher yields of 7Y88 and 7Y370 (Table 3) may mean that
more O2 can be transported to soils by these rice varieties, which will
subsequently reduce CH4 emissions (Jiang et al., 2016b, 2017b).
Moreover, lower DOC contents under 7Y88 and 7Y370 cultivation may
provide less substrates for methanogens, leading to the formation of less
CH4 and subsequently reducing CH4 emissions (Jiang et al., 2017a; Yu
et al., 2016). Jiang et al. (2017a, 2017b) reported lower CH4 emissions
from the planting of new rice varieties with higher yields in China. It was
also found that drought-resistant rice Hanyou 8 can mitigate CH4
emissions from rice fields in eastern China.
AWD resulted in significantly higher N2O emissions compared with
CF in this study (Table 6). The N2O emissions are negligible due to the
fact that the intermediate product (N2O) of denitrification can be further
reduced to N2 under CF when the rice paddies are continuously flooded
(Peng et al., 2011). Furthermore, a high soil water content (Fig. 1) can
inhibit the exchange of N2O between the soil and the atmosphere
(Pathak et al., 2003). In contrast to CF, AWD can improve soil aeration
and subsequently enhance the soil redox potential (Fig. 3) (Ma et al.,
2012; Pathak et al., 2003; Xu et al., 2015), and thus N2O is released from
the oxygenated soil pores due to enhanced nitrification and incomplete
denitrification (Shang et al., 2011b; Wilson et al., 2018; Xiong et al.,
2007). Our findings are similar to those of many previous studies (Liao
et al., 2020; Sibayan et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2020; Xu et al., 2016),
which reported that AWD could induce high N2O emissions.
Lower N2O emissions were also observed for 7Y88 and 7Y370
compared with for HHZ in both rice growing seasons (Table 6). The
higher grain yield of drought-resistant rice (Table 2) means that more
nitrogen may be assimilated into rice plants. The decreased N concen­
tration in the soil under the planting of drought-resistant rice (Table 5)
may mean less substrates for nitrification and denitrification (Said-­
Pullicino et al., 2016), which may explain the lower N2O emissions
measured under the planting of 7Y88 and 7Y370. Rapid uptake of
applied N by the crop can strongly limit the availability of mineral N for
microbial processes and enhance the crop yields (Abu-hashim et al.,
Z.Y. Feng et al. Agricultural Water Management 250 (2021) 106830

Fig. 5. Seasonal changes in CH4 fluxes under different treatments in 2018 and 2019. CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and drying. The bars
represent standard deviation of the mean (n = 3).

Fig. 6. Seasonal changes in N2O fluxes from paddy fields under different treatments in 2018 and 2019. CF, continuous flooding; AWD, alternating wetting and
drying. The bars represent standard deviation of the mean (n = 3).

2016). Moreover, similar to CH4, N2O is also transported through
aerenchyma cells in submerged soils. Thus, it can be speculated that the
diffusion ability of N2O by the two drought-resistant rice varieties may
be different from that of HHZ. Our results are in agreement with the
findings of Gorh and Baruah (2019), who reported differences in N2O
emissions among different rice varieties.
In this study, the closed chamber method was used to determine GHG
emissions from paddy fields when assessing irrigation regime and rice
variety effects. However, the potential effects of sampling frequency in
time associated with the method should be considered, particularly
when integrating fluxes to calculate total GHG emissions over the
measured periods (Wood et al., 2013). We did not measure frequently
N2O fluxes after urea topdressing due to labor shortage, which might
ignore some emission peaks and result in uncertainties of outcomes.

8
Z.Y. Feng et al.
Nevertheless, our results provide an insight into the effects of the
agronomic practices on GHG emissions from paddy fields. Further
studies are needed to discuss the effects of sampling frequency on N2O
emissions for verifying our results.
4.3. Effects of irrigation regime and rice variety on GWP and GHGI
Considering the trade-off relationship between N2O and CH4 emis­
sions in rice paddies, it is necessary to calculate the GWP to estimate the
potential future impacts of N2O and CH4 emissions on the climate system
(Shang et al., 2011b). In this study, AWD could effectively mitigate the
GWP by 61.6% even if the decrease in CH4 emissions was partially offset
by a slight increase in N2O emissions relative to CF. The variation of
GWP is in line with that of CH4 emissions, which accounted for
approximately 99% of the total GWP (Table 6). Similar results have been
reported by Mazza et al. (2016), who found that the GWP was lower
under AWD (–30 KPa) than under CF during the whole rice growing
season. GHGI can be used to simultaneously evaluate the GWP and
possible economic benefits from crop production (Meijide et al., 2017).
AWD remarkably increased GHGI by 31.6% on average (Table 6), while
reduced the grain yields at the same time (Table 3) compared with CF in
this study. Thus, it can be speculated that AWD may not be an effective
irrigation regime for simultaneously maintaining grain yields and
mitigating GHG emissions from rice fields.
The rice varieties showed different impacts on the GWP and GHGI.
7Y88 and 7Y370 exhibited lower GWP and GHGI due to the lower CH4
emissions than HHZ in the present study (Table 6), suggesting that
drought-resistant rice varieties can effectively mitigate GHG emissions
and increase rice yields under AWD.
5. Conclusions
In this study, AWD could significantly save irrigation water and
reduce CH4 emissions from rice paddies to mitigate GWP, but it caused
yield loss at the same time. Rice variety was found to significantly affect
GHG emissions and subsequently influence the GWP. 7Y88 and 7Y370
showed superiority in drought tolerance over HHZ, as evidenced by their
higher yields under AWD. The rice variety 7Y370 showed the lowest CH4
and N2O emissions, GWP and GHGI among all varieties regardless of the
irrigation regime, and thus can be considered as a suitable rice variety
for mitigating GHG emissions and increasing rice yields. Further studies
are still needed to develop optimal irrigation regime for saving water
and mitigating GWP without reducing the rice yields.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the National Key Research and Devel­
opment Project of China (2017YFD0301403), Major Projects of Tech­
nological Innovation in Hubei Province (2018ABA080), and the Natural
Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2018CFB608, 2019CFA027).
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