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Identification of the combination of tillage and N fertilization practices that reduce agricultural Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions while maintaining productivity is strongly required in the Indian subcontinent. This study investigated the effects of tillage in combination with different levels of nitrogen fertilizer on N2O emissions from a rice paddy for two consecutive seasons (2013–2014 and 2014–2015). The experiment consisted of two tillage practices, i.e., conventional (CT) and reduced tillage (RT), and four levels of nitrogen fertilizer, i.e., 0 kg N ha–1 (F1), 45 kg N ha–1 (F2), 60 kg N ha–1 (F3) and 75 kg N ha–1 (F4). Both tillage and fertilizer rate significantly affected cumulative N2O emissions (p < 0.05). Fertilizer at 45 and 60 kg N ha–1 in RT resulted in higher N2O emissions over than did the CT. Compared with the recommended level of 60 kg N ha−1, a 25% reduction in the fertilizer to 45 kg N ha−1 in both CT and RT increased nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and maintained grain yield, resulting in the lowest yield-scaled N2O-N emission. The application of 45 kg N ha−1 reduced the cumulative emission by 6.08% and 6% in CT and RT practices, respectively, without compromising productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments were conducted in an attempt to study the impact of using different organic residues as fertilizers on grain yield, magnitude of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, and soil characteristics. Five fertilizer treatments including conventional nitrogen (N) fertilizer, cow manure, rice straw, poultry manure, and sugarcane bagasse were applied in the rice field in 2012. The maximum reduction in seasonal N2O emissions (10–27%) was observed under the influence of rice straw application over conventional N fertilizer. The experiment was repeated for a second season in 2013 with the same treatments for further confirmation of the results obtained during the first year of experimentation. The application of rice straw also showed a slight advantage by increasing grain yield (4.38 t ha−1) compared to control. Important soil properties and plant growth parameters were studied and their relationships with N2O emission were worked out. The incorporation of organic residues helped in restoring and improving the soil health and effectively enhancing grain yield with reduced N2O emission from rice fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]