Development of Methane Emission Factors for Indian Paddy Fields and Estimation of National Methane Budget

Abstract

A state-wise assessment of methane (CH4) budget for Indian paddies, based on a decadal measurement data across India is presented for the calendar year (CY) 1994, the base year for India’s Initial National Communication (NATCOM) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with national trend from CY 1979 to 2006. The NATCOM CH4 emission factors (EFs) for Indian paddy cultivation areas, generally having less than 0.7% of soil organic carbon (SOC), have been estimated as 17.48 ± 4 g m−2 for irrigated continuously flooded (IR-CF), 6.95 ± 1.86 g m−2 for rain-fed drought prone (RF-DP), 19 ± 6 g m−2 for rain-fed flood prone (RF-FP) and deep-water (DW), 6.62 ± 1.89 g m−2 for irrigated intermittently flooded single aeration (IR-IF-SA) and 2.01 ± 1.49 g m−2 for IR-IF multiple aeration (MA) paddy water regimes. The state-wise study for 1994 has indicated national CH4 budget estimate of 4.09 ± 1.19 Tg y−1 and the trend from 1979 to 2006 was in the range of 3.62 ± 1 to 4.09 ± 1.19 Tg y−1. Four higher emitting or “hot spot” states (West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh) have accounted for 53.9% of total CH4 emission with RF-FP paddy water regime as the major contributor. CH4 emissions were enhanced by factors such as SOC (∼1.5 times due to increase in SOC by ∼1.8 times), paddy cultivars (∼1.5 times), age of seedlings (∼1.4 times), and seasons (∼1.8 times in Kharif or monsoon than in Rabi or winter season).