Mitigating global warming potential with increase net ecosystem economic budget by integrated rice-frog farming in eastern China

Integrated rice-frog farming (IRFF) is gaining attention to remediate the negative environmental impacts induced by traditional rice cultivation. However, the net ecosystem economic budget (NEEB) of the IRFF still has to be evaluated. In this study, we conducted a two-year field experiment to assess the impacts of IRFF on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, global warming potential (GWP), greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), and NEEB in rice fields. This study was implemented using six different frogs' densities, namely, control check (T0), 3750 frogs ha(-1) (T1), 7500 frogs ha(-1) (T2), 15,000 frogs ha(-1) (T3), 30,000 frogs ha(-1) (T4) and 60,000 frogs ha(-1) (T5), respectively. Compared with the T0 control, the average IRFF improved yield gains by 57.8 % and significantly decreased GHGI by approximately 94.1 %. During the rice growing seasons, the CH4 emissions accounted for over 90 % of the GWP based on the 100-year scale of the IPCC. Considering the GWP costs of CH4 and N2O emissions, the NEEB of T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 treatments increased (relative to T0) by 29112, 26921, 30596, 22161, and 2693 CNY ha(-1) y(-1), respectively. Our findings suggest that applying IRFF can simultaneously mitigate GWP and improve the economic benefits of rice farming. While the treatment T3 viz. 15,000 frogs ha(-1) can be a suitable ecological rice farming in place of traditional one.

Automated summary

Integrated rice-frog farming (IRFF) has shown the potential to improve yield gains and decrease greenhouse gas intensity. The study found that applying IRFF can mitigate global warming potential and enhance economic benefits in rice farming, with the treatment involving 15,000 frogs per hectare being a potential ecological alternative to traditional rice farming.