Drip Irrigation Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Academic
New Research Report by Netafim says that Drip Irrigation Increases Rise Crop Production and Reduces Greenhouse Effect
By integrating drip and micro irrigation technologies within the world's rice paddies, farmers can simultaneously contribution to the international struggle against greenhouse gas emissions and increase their crop yields, according to Israeli irrigation giant Netafim.
In conjunction with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Netafim has long been studying rice crops in India, finding that "flooding" irrigation - which is still practiced heavily around the world - is causing "tremendous greenhouse gas emissions compared to the more economical drip irrigation."
By employing drip irrigation to both water and fertilize the paddies, the company said it has significantly reduced the amount of greenhouse gases released and can prevent the penetration of nitrates into groundwater.
"We're talking about huge amounts of gas emissions," Dubi Raz, chief agronomist for Netafim, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Established in 1965, Netafim originated in the drip irrigation discovery of water engineer Simcha Blass. While still based in Israel, the company now has subsidiaries in countries on every continent around the world, excluding Antarctica.
The dominant greenhouse gases generated in rice growth are methane and nitrous oxide. Methanogens produce methane gas under anaerobic conditions in the rice fields, while nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria that operate under anoxic conditions generate nitrous oxides.
In rice paddies irrigated by flooding, Netafim researchers in the southern Tamil Nadu state found that about 2.9 milligrams of nitrous oxides are generated per square meter each day. Whereas, those paddies irrigated by drip methods only produce about 0.5 milligrams of nitrous oxides per square meter daily, Raz explained.
Not only is it important to use drip irrigation technologies to water the rice plants, but it is also critical to use these methods for fertilization, he stressed.
This way, the plants can absorb all of the water and nutrients they need without risking downward seepage of nitrates from fertilizers into the groundwater and surrounding environments - a phenomenon that has caused heavy damage globally in places such as the Great Barrier Reef, Raz explained.
Nonetheless, Raz said that Netafim's research teams have now reached the point at which they are yielding three times the amount of rice on their drip irrigated commercial-sized plots than similarly sized flooded fields. They are currently in the process of launching a full-fledged commercial effort among local Indian farmers, in conjunction with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the government, Raz explained.
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