| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2413471 | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment | 2016 | 10 Pages |
•Effects of hormone applications on CH4 emission from rice paddy were studied.•IAA and KIN applications reduced CH4 emissions over untreated plants.•Leaf area index, stomatal frequency, xylem size were related to CH4 emission.•IAA and KIN applications enhanced leaf photosynthesis rate over control.•Rice grain productivity increased due to IAA and KIN application.
Methane (CH4), a major greenhouse gas, is an important agent of global warming and climate change. While rice agriculture is a major source of anthropogenic CH4 emissions, increased production of rice is essential for ensuring global food security. Mitigating CH4 emissions from rice cultivation with simultaneous increase in grain productivity is a challenging issue. A two-year field study was conducted to investigate the effects of foliar application of plant growth hormones on emission reduction of CH4 from rice paddies. CH4 emission measurement was done from rice plants treated with plant growth hormones – gibberellic acid (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and kinetin (KIN) (in 20 mg L−1 concentration) and compared with the emission from untreated/control (CONT) plants. IAA and KIN applications were found to bring about a reduction in the cumulative CH4 emission over control primarily through regulation of leaf growth, stomatal density and xylem vessel size. Foliar application of IAA and KIN enhanced the leaf photosynthetic rate and caused maximum partitioning of photosynthates to the grains as evident from the higher grain filling ability and grain yield. The IAA and KIN treatments improved the thousand grain weight and high density grain (%) in the rice plants resulting in higher grain productivity over untreated plants. It can be concluded that foliar application of indole acetic acid and kinetin can be an effective measure for regulating methane emission from rice paddies coupled with increase in economic yield of the most popular crop of this region.
