Toward Climate‐Smart Rice Systems: Moving Beyond Cultivar Improvement
Rice is one of the world's most important staple crops and a major source of agricultural methane emissions. Breeding strategies such as photosynthate allocation modification and biomass enhancement show potential, but their effectiveness is highly context dependent, shaped by water regimes and soil organic carbon levels. Cultivars effective under continuous flooding may fail, or even increase emissions, under optimized water regimes. This perspective argues for integrated strategies that combine cultivar improvement with water and organic matter management, microbiome regulation, and climate-resilient breeding to build climate-smart rice systems that ensure both yield stability and methane mitigation.
Authors
- Pete Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3784-1124)
- Yao Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-1421)
- Kees Jan van Groenigen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9165-3925)
- Yakov Kuzyakov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9863-8461)
- Zhaoqiang Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5230-1699)
- Jianwen Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4689-9237)
- Shuwei Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8000-0753)
- Jinyang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0668-336X)
- Yu Jiang
Institutions
- Nanjing Agricultural University (CN)
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN)
- Institute of Botany (CN)
- The Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (CN)
- Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Mechanization (CN)
- University of Göttingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Global Change Biology
- Published
- 2025-10-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70545
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Rice Cultivation and Yield Improvement
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.75