Strategies to Mitigate Methane Emissions in Lowland Rice Fields in South Brazil

摘要

Minimum tillage, reducing irrigation water application, and crop diversification are identified as efficient strategies to mitigate CH_4 emissions in rice fields while also increasing yield. Even though land area under rice cultivation increased 30% from 1990 to 2005 and the IPCC predicted an associated 30% increases in CH_4 emissions, introduction of minimum tillage resulted in a 4% decrease in total CH_4 emissions and a 48% decrease in emissions per unit of grain production. This is an example of how evaluation and establishment of local indexes of GHG emissions enables consideration of the impact of adopting new technologies that generalized indexes miss.