Methane Emission Control by AWD

The persistent flood condition of the rice fields will result in the generation and emission of methane as a result of the decomposition of organic matter by bacteria under anaerobic conditions, and the effect of methane emission is considerably increased when trying to adapt ecological farming techniques by adding more organic matters into rice fields.

Under the AWD irrigation technique, the drainage of paddy fields will be considerably improved after 3 to 4 days from irrigation, and oxygen will penetrate the soil improving the soil aeration while suppressing methane production and this technique can be used to reduce methane emission from paddy by more than 50% and can be measured by using remote sensing technique.

Different criteria should be adopted for different soil types, mainly by considering the drainage capacity and ease of operation in well-drained sandy soils compared to poorly drained clay soils.