Residue burning in rice-wheat cropping system: causes and implications

Abstract

Combine harvesting technologies, which have become common in RWS (rice-wheat system) in India, leave behind large quantities of straw in the field for open burning of residue. Such burnings result in perturbations to the regional atmospheric chemistry due to emissions of trace species like CO 2 , CO, CH 4 , N 2 O, NO x , NMHCs and aerosols. The emissions of CH 4 , CO, N 2 O and NO x have been estimated to be about 110, 2306, 2 and 84 Gg respectively, from rice and wheat straw burning in India in the year 2000. Residue burning causes nutrient and resource loss and adversely affects soil properties, thus calling for improvement in harvesting technologies and sustainable management of RWS.