Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production
Rice is an important global crop while also contributing significant anthropogenic methane (CH _4 ) emissions. To support the future of rice production, more information is needed on the impacts of sustainability-driven management used to grow rice with lower associated methane emissions. Recent sup...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0925 |
| _version_ | 1797629584107110400 |
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| author | Colby W Reavis Michele L Reba Daniel D Shults Benjamin R K Runkle |
| author_facet | Colby W Reavis Michele L Reba Daniel D Shults Benjamin R K Runkle |
| author_sort | Colby W Reavis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Rice is an important global crop while also contributing significant anthropogenic methane (CH _4 ) emissions. To support the future of rice production, more information is needed on the impacts of sustainability-driven management used to grow rice with lower associated methane emissions. Recent support for the impacts of different growing practices in the US has prompted the application of a regional methodology (Tier 2) to estimate methane emissions in different rice growing regions. The methodology estimates rice methane emissions from the US Mid-South (MdS) and California (Cal) using region-specific scaling factors applied to a region-specific baseline flux. In our study, we leverage land cover data and soil clay content to estimate methane emissions using this approach, while also examining how changes in common production practices can affect overall emissions in the US. Our results indicated US rice cultivation produced between 0.32 and 0.45 Tg CH _4 annually, which were approximately 7% and 42% lower on average compared to Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inventories, respectively. Our estimates were 63% greater on average compared to similar methods that lack regional context. Introducing aeration events into irrigation resulted in the greatest methane reductions across both regions. When accounting for differences between baseline and reduction scenarios, the US MdS typically had higher mitigation potential compared to Cal. The differences in cumulative mitigation potential across the 2008–2020 period were likely driven by lower production area clay content for the US MdS compared to Cal. The added spatial representation in the Tier 2 approach is useful in surveying how impactful methane-reducing practices might be within and across regions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:56:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7adcbe6712a5460394dd1f16e10d1e22 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:56:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-7adcbe6712a5460394dd1f16e10d1e222023-11-13T09:04:08ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-01181212402010.1088/1748-9326/ad0925Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice productionColby W Reavis0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0726-1900Michele L Reba1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6830-0438Daniel D Shults2Benjamin R K Runkle3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2583-1199USDA ARS Delta Water Management Research Unit , Jonesboro, AR, United States of AmericaUSDA ARS Delta Water Management Research Unit , Jonesboro, AR, United States of AmericaCollege of Agriculture, Arkansas State University , Jonesboro, AR, United States of AmericaDepartment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas , Fayetteville, AR, United States of AmericaRice is an important global crop while also contributing significant anthropogenic methane (CH _4 ) emissions. To support the future of rice production, more information is needed on the impacts of sustainability-driven management used to grow rice with lower associated methane emissions. Recent support for the impacts of different growing practices in the US has prompted the application of a regional methodology (Tier 2) to estimate methane emissions in different rice growing regions. The methodology estimates rice methane emissions from the US Mid-South (MdS) and California (Cal) using region-specific scaling factors applied to a region-specific baseline flux. In our study, we leverage land cover data and soil clay content to estimate methane emissions using this approach, while also examining how changes in common production practices can affect overall emissions in the US. Our results indicated US rice cultivation produced between 0.32 and 0.45 Tg CH _4 annually, which were approximately 7% and 42% lower on average compared to Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inventories, respectively. Our estimates were 63% greater on average compared to similar methods that lack regional context. Introducing aeration events into irrigation resulted in the greatest methane reductions across both regions. When accounting for differences between baseline and reduction scenarios, the US MdS typically had higher mitigation potential compared to Cal. The differences in cumulative mitigation potential across the 2008–2020 period were likely driven by lower production area clay content for the US MdS compared to Cal. The added spatial representation in the Tier 2 approach is useful in surveying how impactful methane-reducing practices might be within and across regions.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0925methanericealternate wetting and dryingmitigation potential |
| spellingShingle | Colby W Reavis Michele L Reba Daniel D Shults Benjamin R K Runkle Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production Environmental Research Letters methane rice alternate wetting and drying mitigation potential |
| title | Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production |
| title_full | Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production |
| title_short | Assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in US rice production |
| title_sort | assessing the methane mitigation potential of innovative management in us rice production |
| topic | methane rice alternate wetting and drying mitigation potential |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad0925 |
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