A study was conducted to assess the effects of organic amendments on soil aggregates, carbon (C) sequestration, and energy use efficiency (EUE) during five consecutive Boro and Transplanted Aman rice seasons in Bangladesh during 2018–2020. Five treatments (viz., control (only inorganic fertilizers), cow dung (CD), vermicompost (VC), rice straw (RS), and poultry manure (PM)) were used. The organic materials were applied at 2 t C ha⁻¹ season⁻¹ to all the plots, except in the control treatment. Inorganic fertilizers were applied in all treatments in both seasons following integrated nutrient management (INM). The data reveal that PM was found to be more efficient at increasing the water-stable soil aggregates (WSA), followed by the RS, CD, and VC. The WSA in smaller-sized soil aggregates were found to be higher than those in larger-sized soil aggregates. VC was found to be the most effective in terms of C sequestration (29%), followed by PM (26%), CD (22%), and RS (20%). The highest EUE was attributed to the control treatment (9.77), followed by the CD (8.67), VC (8.04), RS (2.10), and PM (1.18), which showed energy wastage in the organic treatments. The system productivity (SP) followed the opposite trend of the EUE. The INM is a better approach to improve the soil health, the C sequestration, and the SP, but it appeared as an energy-inefficient strategy, which suggests that a balanced application of organic and inorganic nutrients is needed in order to achieve yield sustainability and EUE.

Intermittent drainage of rice fields alters soil redox potential and contributes to the reduction of CH₄ emission and thus may reduce net global warming potential (GWP) during rice cultivation. Incorporation of green biomass helps maintaining soil organic matter, but may increase CH₄ emission. We investigated net ecosystem carbon budget (NECB) and net GWP under two water management regimes—continuous flooding and intermittent drainage—having four biomass incorporation levels (0, 3, 6 and 12 Mg ha⁻¹). Water management and biomass incorporation level demonstrated significant (P < 0.05) interaction effect on the NECB and GWP. Intermittent drainage decreased the NECB by ca. 6–46 % than continuous flooding under same rates of cover crop biomass (CCB) incorporation. Moreover, intermittent drainage reduced seasonal CH₄–C fluxes by ca. 54–58 % and net GWP by 35–58 % compared to continuous flooding. There was also no significant reduction in rice yield because of intermittent drainage under similar CCB. This implies that incorporation of 3 Mg ha⁻¹ CCB and intermittent drainage could be a good option for reducing net GWP and higher grain yield.

Nutrient sources and management influence soil properties and crop productivity indicating that sustained crop production needs nutrient rate specific tuning after certain periods of time. We hypothesize that long-term use of organic and inorganic nutrient sources maintains soil fertility and improve crop production. Yield and nutrient use efficiencies have not been evaluated in Bangladesh from long-term fertilizer trials focusing on adaptation strategies for sustained food production. So, the objectives of the present investigation were to examine the effects of organic and inorganic amendments on yields and soil properties under a rice-fallow-rice system. The experiment was initiated in 1985 with 12 treatments under dry season irrigated rice culture at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur. The effects of organic and inorganic nutrient sources were evaluated under missing element techniques. The contributions of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilizers to yields were more in the dry season but the role of P was negligible in the wet season. The omissions of N, P and K nutrients are not suitable management option for rice cultivation during dry and wet seasons, although P can be omitted in the wet season provided its full dose is applied in the dry season. The combined use of organic and inorganic nutrient sources are the best option for improving rice productivity and sustaining soil fertility in a rice-fallow-rice system in Bangladesh.