Subsurface banding of blended controlled-release urea can optimize rice yields while minimizing yield-scaled greenhouse gas emissions

Controlled-release urea (CRU) is widely reported to supply crop nitrogen (N) demand with one basal application, thus effectively replacing split applications of urea without diminishing grain yield and N use efficiency (NUE). However, its use for replacement for high-yield split applications of urea (CK) for rice is untested. In addition, the degree to which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in rice systems are affected when CRU is substituted for CK remains unclear. During 2017 and 2018, we sampled plant growth and gas emissions in a rice paddy field treated with three CRU types (sulfur-coated urea [SCU], polymer-coated urea [PCU], and bulk blended CRU [BBU]) applied via two methods (surface broadcasting on the soil and subsurface banding at 5 cm depth), with CK as a control. The three CRUs led to different soil NH4+-N dynamics, and the N supply pattern under BBU was more beneficial for rice seedling establishment than under SCU and PCU, resulting in grain yield and NUE comparable to those under CK. CRU type showed no significant effect on either CH4 emissions or N2O emissions, and broadcast CRUs exhibited significantly higher total GHG emissions than CK. However, banded CRUs significantly reduced the total GHG emissions in comparison with broadcast CRUs, by 9.2% averaged across the two years. Reduced CH4 emissions, particularly during the period prior to the middle drainage, contributed largely to the GHG difference. With comparably high grain yield and low total GHG emissions, banded BBU showed a low yield-scaled GHG (GHG emissions divided by grain yield) comparable to that under CK in both years. Overall, our study suggested that N management synchronized with rice demand and contributing to a high NUE tended to minimize yield-scaled GHG. Broadcast CRU can hardly substitute for CK in terms of either grain yield or GHG emissions, but banded BBU is a promising N management strategy for sustaining rice production while minimizing environmental impacts.