Mechanisms of enhancing soil fertility without obviously elevating global warming potential under an optimal rice straw incorporation rate in a paddy soil

Abstract

The utility of rice straw as an organic fertilizer has been widely recognized as a promising approach to enhancing soil fertility. However, straw return is currently in a dilemma, as it may also provoke greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, leading to serious environmental consequences. It is urgent to reveal the feasibility of straw incorporation regarding soil fertility improvement without notable increases in GHG emissions. Here, a soil microcosm experiment was conducted using paddy soils collected from a long-term rice straw incorporation field experiment. The treatments of the field experiment, namely CK, ST1, ST2, and ST3 corresponding to the straw application rates of 0 %, 50 %, 100 %, and 150 % of the local rice straw yield, respectively, were continued in the microcosm experiment. The dynamics of GHG fluxes and concentrations in soils, and the variations in the abundances of soil microbial communities were systematically determined. The results indicated that ST1 treatment obviously improved soil fertility but did not induce significant elevation of global warming potential (GWP) with only 3 % increase compared to CK. Although ST2 and ST3 treatments showed greater improvements in soil fertility, they significantly increased GWP by up to 151 %. The minimal GWP increase under ST1 was mainly attributed to the significant reduction in N 2 O emission and the slight rise in CH 4 emission compared to CK. The further investigations revealed that ST1 possessed the highest nosZ II abundance and the lowest nirS / nosZ II ratio, indicating its highest N 2 O consumption ability. Meanwhile, its CH 4 production ability fluctuated around the soil CH 4 holding capacity (190 mmol mol −1 ), and most of the produced CH 4 was consumed by methanotrophs in soil. In conclusion, rice straw can be incorporated into paddy soils at a suitable application rate, which can effectively enhance soil fertility without inducing an additional warming effect.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. SOIL, 2026 · DOI ↗