This project forms a regional research initiative to understand the impact of soil and environmental factors and water management strategies on paddy ecosystems and emissions related to soil-gas diffusivity. The study proposes the best management practices the region can adopt to minimize GHG emissions while maintaining the crop productivity and develops gas diffusivity fingerprints in paddy soil under different saturations using predictive diffusivity models for future predictions.

Objectives:

• To characterize soil-gas diffusivity in relation to the soil and atmospheric properties and country-specific water management practices of the region.
• To assess N2O and CH4 fluxes throughout the growing season and investigate its functional relationship to soil-gas diffusivity.
• To investigate the critical gas diffusivity and water windows which trigger emission peaks.
• To develop predictive models to estimate soil- gas diffusivity.
• To propose best water management strategies to avoid excessive emissions and recommendations for policy decisions.