Efficient Water Use and Nutrition Cycling in Paddy Ecosystem

Dear Colleagues,

Rice has played a critical role in feeding a large portion of the growing world population, but rapidly depleting freshwater resources threaten the sustainability of its production. Conventional rice cultivation requires 2 to 3 times more of water than for other cereals, accounting for 34—43% of global irrigation water. Its sustainable production requires the implementation of suitable practices and technologies that increase/stabilize the production, to mitigate the water shortage crisis and its negative impacts. In addition, the rapid increase in the application of chemical fertilizers over the past century has greatly benefited rice production. However, fertilizer over-application has led to many environmental problems, including excessive reactive nitrogen losses, greenhouse gas emissions, water eutrophication, groundwater pollution, etc. Managing the supply and utilization of nutrients to sustainably increase rice yields while minimizing impacts on other ecosystem services such as clean water and air, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration represents a significant challenge, especially under water-saving paddy ecosystems. Researchers have been making efforts to improve sustainable nutrient management strategies for decades, aiming at more efficient use of mineral fertilizers, increased recovery and recycling of waste nutrients, and better exploitation of the substantial inorganic and organic reserves of nutrients in the soil. However, to prevent the mismanagement and over-utilization of N, P, and C sources, significant changes are required in paddy ecosystem management.

This Special Issue aims to collect novel approaches to measure, model, and efficiently manage irrigated water and nutrient cycling in paddy ecosystems, and the new insights regarding nutrition loss processes and their regulating and controlling mechanisms in paddy ecosystems. This will support the development of sustainable and profitable farming systems that safeguard our future food security with minimal water consumption and environmental impacts in response to the current scenario of climate change and variability, and will contribute to the solution of the conflicts and trade-offs between the high productivity and environmental impact.

Dr. Taotao Chen
Dr. Daocai Chi
Dr. Shihong Yang
Dr. Lloyd T. (Ted) Wilson
Guest Editors

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