Syntrophic microbiomes associated with methane suppressive irrigation in rice

Rice, a staple crop of half of the world’s population, is grown
predominantly in flooded paddies which is one of the largest contributors
to methane emissions. An effective approach is to minimise the anaerobic
flooded conditions that favour the growth of methanogenic archaea. Our
findings show that controlled irrigation can reduce methane emissions by
up to 90%. In addition, methane levels stayed comparatively low in plots
without rice plants. The microbial communities in empty plots were
compositional similar to those observed in plots with rice cultivation.
Methane is produced by the anaerobic decay of organic matter. Since
methane is insoluble in water, it could escape from flooded paddies via
the plant aerenchyma roots. The microbial soil dynamics under both aerobic
and anaerobic conditions are still not well understood. In this study,
both empirical methane measurements and microbiome profiles were presented
under flood and drip irrigated conditions in an outdoor field in
Singapore.