H.K. Kludze, D.P. Alford, R.D. DeLaune, C.W. Lindau. Methane is a very important greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gasses trap heat energy in the atmosphere, creating a heating effect similar to a greenhouse. This may cause global warming. Methane is 30 times more effective than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
Rice paddies are the fourth largest contributor of methane to the atmosphere.
Working at the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute at Louisiana State University, the authors set out to determine methane emissions from paddy rice soils, from the root rhizospheres and from the entire paddy system. Total methane production from the entire paddy system was determined throughout the growing seasons of the first and second crop. This made it possible to determine times of sources and sinks of methane gas. Soil cores taken from between plots and the root rhizospheres were tested using methylflouride, a inhibitor of methane-oxidizing bacteria. This allowed the effect of the bacteria on methane emissions to be determined.