Impact on global warming in the application of compost "alperujo" in aerobic rice cultivation

Abstract

Traditional rice cultivation (tillage and flooding) is one of the most important anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially CH₄ and N₂O. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new management techniques that can mitigate this problem. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect of the different handlings in aerobic conditions; tillage (T) and its counterpart with compost (TC), non-tillage (NT) and its counterpart with compost (NTC), exert on the CO₂ balance. To do this, a three-year field experiment (2015-2017) was carried out, where GHG emissions and TOC levels present in soils were measured throughout the crop cycle. The global warming potential (GWP) was 1.19 times higher in T compared to NT. So that the net balance between emissions and fixations in TC was 8.96 Mg of CO₂ ha^-1, being in T, NTC and NT -7.37, -6.74 and -15.5 Mg of CO₂ ha^-1, respectively. Therefore, the implementation of NT can be an efficient strategy to help reduce the GWP and improve the net balance of CO₂ in rice crop.