The effect of irrigation management on rice grain yield, irrigation water productivity and methane emissions in northern Iran

Abstract This experiment aims to study the effect of water‐saving irrigation on rice production and methane emissions. Three irrigation methods, that is, flooding irrigation, deficit irrigation (DI) and alternate partial root‐zone drying (APRD), were employed in a 2‐year field trial. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. For the DI and APRD treatments, plots were not irrigated until the soil matric potential reached −10 (DI10 and APRD10), −30 (DI30 and APRD30) and −60 kPa (DI60 and APRD60). In the APRD treatments, two adjacent furrows of each plant row were alternately irrigated in consecutive irrigation events. The DI and APRD treatments did not affect yield components when the soil matric potential was −10 kPa. Applying APRD treatments increased irrigation water productivity by 45%, 51% and 31% for soil matric potentials of −10, −30 and −60 kPa, respectively. On average, water stress treatments reduced methane emissions by 78% compared to flooding treatment. On average, the APRD treatments decreased the water input by 10% compared with the DI treatments while achieving a 2.5% higher yield. This is the first study to outline the effect of APRD on methane emissions and rice production. These findings suggest that APRD could be a valuable strategy to mitigate methane emissions without risking rice yield reduction.