Managing yield and soil trace gas fluxes in rice through furrow irrigation and sulfur‐enriched urea
Nikki Arivel Larazo, Ma. Arlene Adviento‐Borbe, Joseph Massey, Steven Green, Deepak Joshi, Wenceslao Larazo, Cherryl Quiñones, Kharla Vianca Mendez, Shoeb Ahmed Bandagi, Bhavani Makineni, Neil MayberryAbstract
Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) cultivation presents a significant opportunity to reduce methane and nitrous oxide fluxes by adopting optimal irrigation strategies and smart N fertilization. A 3‐year field study was conducted in Northeast Arkansas to evaluate the impacts of flooded and furrow irrigation with either urea or sulfur‐enriched urea (Urea‐S) at 168 kg N ha − 1 on rice yield and soil trace gas fluxes. Gas samples were collected using the flux‐vented chamber method and analyzed via gas chromatography. Furrow irrigation reduced CH 4 fluxes by 90%–100%, but increased N 2 O fluxes by up to 86% relative to flooded irrigation. Urea‐S reduced N 2 O emissions under certain moisture conditions by 67%. Grain yields were >10 Mg ha − 1 across all treatments and were unaffected by irrigation and N fertilizer types. Results highlight the relevance of aligning irrigation strategy with N fertilizer type to successfully reduce N 2 O fluxes.