Chungnam Rice 'Ppareumi' Shows Excellent Methane Reduction Due to Shorter Cultivation Period

Ministry of Environment Selects Outstanding Local Government Cases for Climate Crisis Adaptation Measures

The rice variety 'Ppareumi' from Chungnam has been found to be excellent in reducing methane emissions.

According to the Provincial Agricultural Research and Extension Services on the 27th, the second-generation Ppareumi was recently selected as an excellent case of local government climate crisis adaptation measures by the Ministry of Environment for its outstanding performance in reducing methane emissions. Among 8,655 projects submitted by local governments nationwide, only four were recognized as excellent cases.

Methane has a global warming potential 28 times higher than carbon dioxide and accounts for 30% of the causes of global warming. In 2021, the total methane emissions in the province amounted to 3,552,000 tons, with agriculture and livestock farming contributing the most at 2,996,500 tons.

The highest methane emissions occur during rice cultivation, which accounts for 9-19% of global methane emissions.

Ppareumi has a short cultivation period, resulting in lower use of agricultural water and fertilizers, thereby providing an effect in reducing methane emissions.

Last year, the freshwater period by variety was as follows: △Ppareumi (early super early variety) 87 days △Seolbaek (early variety) 105 days △Samgwang (medium-late variety) 128 days △Dapum (late variety) 137 days.

Water usage per 10 ares of rice cultivation area was surveyed as △Ppareumi 330 tons △Seolbaek 489 tons △Samgwang 707 tons △Dapum 817 tons.

Estimated methane emissions by variety were △Ppareumi 11.3 kg △Seolbaek 13.7 kg △Samgwang 16.6 kg △Dapum 17.8 kg.

This means that Ppareumi can reduce methane emissions by about 40% compared to late varieties.

The province plans to conduct precise verification of the methane reduction effect from cultivating Ppareumi and pursue registration as the country's first 'low-carbon certified variety.'

Yoon Yeo-tae, team leader at the Provincial Agricultural Research and Extension Services, said, "Since over 84% of methane in the province comes from agriculture and livestock farming, and 38% of that is generated during rice cultivation, growing Ppareumi to produce the same amount of rice could result in lower methane emissions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.