title: Exploiting Co-Benefits of Increased Rice Production and Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emission through Optimized Crop and Soil Management.
abstract: Meeting the future food security challenge without further sacrificing environmental integrity requires transformative changes in managing the key biophysical determinants of increasing agronomic productivity and reducing the environmental footprint. Here, we focus on Chinese rice production and quantitatively address this concern by conducting 403 on-farm trials across diverse rice farming systems. Inherent soil productivity, management practices and rice farming type resulted in confounded and interactive effects on yield, yield gaps and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (N2O, CH4 and CO2-equivalent) with both trade-offs and compensating effects. Advances in nitrogen, water and crop management (Best Management Practices-BMPs) helped closing existing yield gaps and resulted in a substantial reduction in CO2-equivalent emission of rice farming despite a tradeoff of increase N2O emission. However, inherent soil properties limited rice yields to a larger extent than previously known. Cultivating inherently better soil also led to lower GHG intensity (GHG emissions per unit yield). Neither adopting BMPs only nor improving soils with low or moderate productivity alone can adequately address the challenge of substantially increasing rice production while reducing the environmental footprint. A combination of both represents the most efficient strategy to harness the combined-benefits of enhanced production and mitigating climate change. Extrapolating from our farm data, this strategy could increase rice production in China by 18%, which would meet the demand for direct human consumption of rice by 2030. It would also reduce fertilizer nitrogen consumption by 22% and decrease CO2-equivalent emissions during the rice growing period by 7% compared with current farming practice continues. Benefits vary by rice-based cropping systems. Single rice systems have the largest food provision benefits due to its wider yield gap and total cultivated area, whereas double-rice system (especially late rice) contributes primarily to reducing GHG emissions. The study therefore provides farm-based evidence for feasible, practical approaches towards achieving realistic food security and environmental quality targets at a national scale.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Mingsheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fusuo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Christie
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jianchang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Science & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Jianliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: College of Resources & Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Shiwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Resource and Environment College, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Crop Physiology, Ecology & Production Center, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Qiyuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Crop Physiology, Ecology & Production Center, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Rice Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xuhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Soil &Fertilizer Research Institute, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yixiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soils and Fertilizers, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Shihua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Centre for Resources, Environment and Food Security, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Rongfeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Herts, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dobermann
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D002681:China; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D000069599:Crop Production / Q000191:economics*; D017752:Greenhouse Effect / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008697:Methane / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000032:analysis; D012275:Oryza / Q000254:growth & development*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009609:Nitrous Oxide; D009584:Nitrogen; D008697:Methane