ABSTRACT
Agricultural land expansion into marginal areas, including peatlands, to meet increasing demands of agricultural product is a significant human intervention to the global environment because peatlands are a vital part of the global carbon cycling process. Increasing agricultural productivity of peatlands through land management strategies generally involve trade-offs to other objectives, such as achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and other environmental issues. Synergistic options should be considered as the main objective to minimize the trade-offs. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the option of land management through soil amelioration can be used as a strategy to increase rice production, as well as mitigate methane (CH4) emission in peat soils. The effects of different soil ameliorations on CH4 emissions from peat soil under rice cultivation were studied using automatic closed chamber measurements. Twelve plots (approx. 25 m2) were laid out and arranged using a Randomized Block Design (RBD). The data was collected from 6 consecutive rice cultivation periods. The results showed that CH4 was emitted 4 – 42% lower when soil ameliorations were applied to the cultivated peat soils. The variations in CH4 emissions between rice cultivation periods were large. Soil amelioration increased rice production by 2–15 %. Soil amelioration, e.g., zeolite, steel slag, manure, silicate fertilizer, compost, nitrification inhibitor, volcanic ash, and steel slag, can be recommended as a better option for increasing rice yield, as well as limiting CH4 emissions from cultivated peat soils. Soil amelioration is vital for soil quality, agricultural production, as well as the reduction of CH4 emissions from peat soil, but the usage of soil amelioration is strongly influenced by the economics of farming.
