@article{Ye2026, 
author = {Fan Ye and Siyu Li and Yaguang Xue and Weiyang Zhang and Hao Zhang and Junfei Gu and Jianchang Yang and Yun Chen and Lijun Liu},
title = {Co-application of alternate wetting and drying irrigation and Bacillus subtilis increases yield and reduces N2O emissions in paddy ecosystems},
year = {2026},
journal = {Journal of Integrative Agriculture (JIA)},
volume = {25},
number = {10},
pages = {4075-4089},
keywords = {rice (Oryza sativa L.), alternate wetting and drying irrigation, Bacillus subtilis, yield, N2O emissions},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1016/j.jia.2026.03.050},
doi = {10.1016/j.jia.2026.03.050},
abstract = {Alternate wetting and drying (WD) irrigation is an effective water-saving practice for rice production but often increases nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Plant growth-promoting bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis (BS) can enhance crop growth; however, the combined effects of WD and BS on rice yield and N2O emissions remain unclear. A 3-year field experiment using two japonica rice cultivars was conducted to evaluate the effects of two irrigation regimes (continuous flooding (CF) and WD) and BS application (without BS, –BS; and with BS, +BS) on rice yield and N2O emissions. The results showed that BS application significantly increased the rice yields under both irrigation regimes. Compared with CF–BS, CF+BS and WD+BS increased the yields by 3.9–9.0% and 5.8–12.6%, respectively, mainly due to a higher total spikelet number. CF+BS had no significant effect on N2O emissions, whereas WD–BS markedly increased cumulative N2O emissions, while WD+BS reduced emissions by 34.8–45.9% compared with WD–BS. The WD+BS treatment enhanced root oxidation activity and increased root surface area and volume density in the 20–40 cm soil layer. It also reduced the soil NO3−-N content, raised the NH4+/NO3− ratio, and enhanced urease and sucrase activities, thereby promoting the accumulation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), along with a higher abundance of the nitrous oxide reductase gene (nosZ) associated with N2O reduction. Overall, integrating WD with BS increased rice yield while mitigating N2O emissions. The enhanced root function and aboveground agronomic traits, improved soil enzyme activity, and optimized nitrogen transformation and microbial processes were the key mechanisms for achieving a high yield with reduced environmental impacts.}
}