RICE IS A STAPLE FOOD FOR HALF OF THE GLOBAL POPULATION AND IS AN IMPORTANT U.S. COMMODITY; THEREFORE, IMPROVING BOTH RICE QUANTITY (YIELD), QUALITY (I.E., LOW AMOUNTS OF TOXIC METAL(LOID)S) AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT IS OF GLOBAL IMPORTANCE. THE OVERARCHING AIM OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DECREASE TOXIC ARSENIC (AS) CONCENTRATION IN RICE GRAIN AND IMPROVE YIELD WITHOUT INCREASING TOXIC CADMIUM (CD) CONCENTRATION IN RICE GRAIN OR GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSIONS. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH SOIL SI MANAGEMENT OF PADDY RICE GROWN UNDER THE ALTERNATE WETTING AND DRYING (AWD) IRRIGATION PRACTICE.OUR TEAM WILL ASSESS THE COMBINED APPROACH OF AWD AND SOIL SI MANAGEMENT TO CONTROL AS AND CD UPTAKE, REDUCE GHG EMISSIONS, AND LIMIT WATER USE IN THE CULTIVATION OF PADDY RICE THROUGH A COMBINED LABORATORY AND FIELD APPROACH. WE WILL USE A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO OBSERVING RICE PRODUCTION UNDER DIFFERENT GROWTH CONDITIONS - INCLUDING IRRIGATION REGIME AND SI-RICH RICE RESIDUE SOIL AMENDMENTS- TO ENABLE A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THESE INTERACTIONS. WE WILL ALSO EXAMINE RICE GROWN AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL SCALES - OUTDOOR MESOCOSM AND PRODUCTION-FIELD SCALES - TO TEST HOW TREATMENT EFFECTS FOUND IN A CONTROLLED LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT INTERACT IN REAL-WORLD MANAGEMENT REGIMES UNDER NATURALLY OCCURRING VARIATIONS OF SOIL, WEATHER, AND MANAGEMENT. THIS PROPOSAL WILL DISCOVER A NEW STRATEGY TO SUSTAINABLY GROW RICE WHILE LIMITING WATER USE, UPTAKE OF TOXIC METAL(LOID)S AND GHG EMISSIONS.

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

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