Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability

Achieving simultaneous improvements in rice yield, reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhanced energy efficiency represents a critical challenge for sustainable food production. Currently, Eastern China is actively promoting intelligent rice cultivation technologies, including intelli...

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Main Authors: Wenan Weng, Ping Liao, Xiuli Li, Minmin Sun, Yufei Ling, Zhipeng Xing, Jiwei Qu, Juan Chen, Haiyan Wei, Hui Gao, Hongcheng Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Agricultural Water Management
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425004251
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author Wenan Weng
Ping Liao
Xiuli Li
Minmin Sun
Yufei Ling
Zhipeng Xing
Jiwei Qu
Juan Chen
Haiyan Wei
Hui Gao
Hongcheng Zhang
author_facet Wenan Weng
Ping Liao
Xiuli Li
Minmin Sun
Yufei Ling
Zhipeng Xing
Jiwei Qu
Juan Chen
Haiyan Wei
Hui Gao
Hongcheng Zhang
author_sort Wenan Weng
collection DOAJ
description Achieving simultaneous improvements in rice yield, reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhanced energy efficiency represents a critical challenge for sustainable food production. Currently, Eastern China is actively promoting intelligent rice cultivation technologies, including intelligent precision dry direct-seeding (IDS), unmanned aerial vehicle sowing (UAS), and intelligent mechanical transplanting (IMT). Comprehensive assessments of yield, GHG emissions, and energy consumption under these patterns are currently lacking, thereby limiting technological optimization and dissemination decisions. Here, we carried out field trials in 2022–2023 to systematically evaluate these cultivation patterns. The results showed that IMT achieved the highest mean yield (11.1 t ha-¹), exceeding IDS (10.5 t ha-¹) and UAS (10.2 t ha-¹) due to greater sink capacity. IDS reduced global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) by 53.7 % and 50.3 %, respectively, compared to IMT, and by 22.0 % and 23.2 % compared to UAS. This reduction stemmed primarily from lower methane (CH4) emissions, despite higher nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, which were largely associated with changes in microbial gene abundance (e.g., lower mcrA/pmoA ratio, higher AOA-amoA and narG). IDS also demonstrated excellent energy efficiency, boosted energy use efficiency by 9.7 % and 3.4 % over UAS and IMT, respectively, with total energy input of 43,171.7, 46,113.5, and 46,311.4 MJ ha−1. Our results suggest that IDS can achieve acceptable yields in rural areas with significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.
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spelling doaj-art-c3f2e5dc1f0a40bc88f2d3ab68fbe1a02025-08-20T03:58:35ZengElsevierAgricultural Water Management1873-22832025-09-0131810971110.1016/j.agwat.2025.109711Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainabilityWenan Weng0Ping Liao1Xiuli Li2Minmin Sun3Yufei Ling4Zhipeng Xing5Jiwei Qu6Juan Chen7Haiyan Wei8Hui Gao9Hongcheng Zhang10Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; Corresponding authors.Agricultural Science and Technology Research Institute of Jiangsu Dazhong Farm Group Co., Ltd., Yancheng 224135, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaCollage of Mechanical Engineering/Jiangsu Engineering Center for Modern Agricultural Machinery and Agronomy Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaAgricultural Science and Technology Research Institute of Jiangsu Dazhong Farm Group Co., Ltd., Yancheng 224135, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology/Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops/Research Institute of Rice Industrial Engineering Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; Corresponding authors.Achieving simultaneous improvements in rice yield, reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhanced energy efficiency represents a critical challenge for sustainable food production. Currently, Eastern China is actively promoting intelligent rice cultivation technologies, including intelligent precision dry direct-seeding (IDS), unmanned aerial vehicle sowing (UAS), and intelligent mechanical transplanting (IMT). Comprehensive assessments of yield, GHG emissions, and energy consumption under these patterns are currently lacking, thereby limiting technological optimization and dissemination decisions. Here, we carried out field trials in 2022–2023 to systematically evaluate these cultivation patterns. The results showed that IMT achieved the highest mean yield (11.1 t ha-¹), exceeding IDS (10.5 t ha-¹) and UAS (10.2 t ha-¹) due to greater sink capacity. IDS reduced global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) by 53.7 % and 50.3 %, respectively, compared to IMT, and by 22.0 % and 23.2 % compared to UAS. This reduction stemmed primarily from lower methane (CH4) emissions, despite higher nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, which were largely associated with changes in microbial gene abundance (e.g., lower mcrA/pmoA ratio, higher AOA-amoA and narG). IDS also demonstrated excellent energy efficiency, boosted energy use efficiency by 9.7 % and 3.4 % over UAS and IMT, respectively, with total energy input of 43,171.7, 46,113.5, and 46,311.4 MJ ha−1. Our results suggest that IDS can achieve acceptable yields in rural areas with significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425004251Intelligent cultivation patternRice yieldGreenhouse gas emissionsEnergy consumptionEnergy use efficiency
spellingShingle Wenan Weng
Ping Liao
Xiuli Li
Minmin Sun
Yufei Ling
Zhipeng Xing
Jiwei Qu
Juan Chen
Haiyan Wei
Hui Gao
Hongcheng Zhang
Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
Agricultural Water Management
Intelligent cultivation pattern
Rice yield
Greenhouse gas emissions
Energy consumption
Energy use efficiency
title Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
title_full Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
title_fullStr Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
title_full_unstemmed Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
title_short Optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
title_sort optimized water management in intelligent cultivation systems mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand while ensuring rice yield sustainability
topic Intelligent cultivation pattern
Rice yield
Greenhouse gas emissions
Energy consumption
Energy use efficiency
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377425004251
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