Effect of potassium phosphate fertilization on production and emission of methane and its 13C-stable isotope composition in rice microcosms

Rice fields are an important source for atmospheric CH4, but the effects of fertilization are not well known. We studied the turnover of CH4 in rice soil microcosms without and with addition of potassium phosphate. Height and tiller number of rice plants were higher in the fertilized than in the unfertilized microcosms. Emission rates of CH4 were also higher, but porewater concentrations of CH4 were lower. The δ13C values of the emitted CH4 and of the CH4 in the porewater were both 2–6% higher in the fertilized microcosms than in the control. Potassium phosphate did not affect rate and isotopic signature of CH4 production in anoxic soil slurries. On the other hand, roots retrieved from fertilized microcosms at the end of incubation exhibited slightly higher CH4 production rates and slightly higher CH4-δ13C values compared to roots from unfertilized plants. Addition of potassium phosphate to excised rice roots generally inhibited CH4 production and resulted in increasingly lower δ13C values of the produced CH4. Fractionation of 13C during plant ventilation (i.e. δ13C in pore water CH4 versus CH4 emitted) was larger in the fertilized microcosms than in the control. Besides plant ventilation, this difference may also have been caused by CH4 oxidation in the rhizosphere. However, calculation from the isotopic data showed that less than 27% of the produced CH4 was oxidized. Collectively, our results indicate that potassium phosphate fertilization stimulated CH4 emission by enhancing root methanogenesis, plant ventilation and/or CH4 oxidation, resulting in residence times of CH4 in the porewater in the order of hours.