Planting rice in a furrow-irrigated system or row rice, as it’s also known, could result in lower methane gas emissions compared to those from fields planted in conventionally irrigated rice, research is showing.

Row rice may also help farmers reduce the amount of nitrous oxides or N₂O coming from their fields, but the research is less settled on that topic, according to scientists with the USDA-ARS Delta Water Management Research Unit.

“From May, June and July, we found the emission of methane in the row rice field was 60 percent lower than in the MIRI (multiple-inlet rice irrigation) or continuously flooded fields, which means the process of row rice cropping really works with methane gas emissions,” said Dr. Arlene Adviento-Borbe, research scientist with the Delta Water Management Research Unit.

Adviento-Borbe, who is located with the unit at Arkansas State University, was one of the speakers at the Mississippi County Rice Irrigation Field Day near Blytheville, Ark. The event was sponsored by several organizations, including USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service.

“We did see some nitrous oxide emissions coming from row rice fields,” she noted. “But, to us, if you look at the total emissions of nitrous oxide coming from the field it would not be as high as the methane gas emissions.

“We are also looking at the other sources of nitrogen in row rice fields, the exchangeable nitrogen in the soil, and how this will be affecting our N₂O emissions potential at the end of the season. We also continue to measure ammonia emissions in the field. As of now we did not see a huge amount of ammonia coming from the field.”

For more information about Adviento-Borbe’s research, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG902Z95GKc&feature=youtu.be.