[Quantifying direct N2O emissions from paddy fields during rice growing season in China: model establishment]

Various water management regimes, such as continuous flooding (F), flooding-midseason drainage-reflooding (F-D-F), and flooding-midseason drainage-reflooding-moist intermittent irrigation but without water logging (F-D-F-M), are currently practiced in paddy rice production in China. These water regimes have incurred a sensitive change in direct N2O emission from rice paddy fields. In order to establish statistical models quantifying the country-specific emission factor and background emission of N2O in paddy fields during the rice growing season, we compiled and statistically analyzed field data on 71 N2O measurements from 17 field studies that were published in peer-reviewed Chinese and English journals. For each field study, we documented the seasonal N2O emission, the type and amount of organic amendment and fertilizer nitrogen application, the water management regime, the drainage duration, the field location and cropping season. Seasonal total N2O was, on average, equivalent to 0.02% of the nitrogen applied in the continuous flooding rice paddies. Under the water regime of F-D-F or the F-D-F-M, seasonal N2O emissions increased with N fertilizer applied in rice paddies. Applying an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) linear regression model resulted in an emission factor of 0.42% for N2O, and in unpronounced background N2 O emission under the water regime of F-D-F. Under the F-D-F-M water regime, N2O emission factor and N2O-N background emission were estimated to be 0.73% and 0.79 kg x hm(-2) during the paddy rice growing season, respectively. After considering three different water regimes in rice paddies in China, the emission factor of N for N2O and N2O-N background emission averaged 0.54% and 0.43 kg x hm(-2). The results of this study suggest that paddy rice relative to upland crop production could have contributed to mitigating N2O emissions from agriculture in China. The emission factor of N for N2O and its background emissions can be directly adopted to develop national inventory of N2O emissions from paddy fields during the rice growing season in China.