Where is China’s agricultural methane emission reduction heading?

Higher Education Press

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Methane is one of the key greenhouse gases affecting global climate. Although its atmospheric lifetime is shorter than that of carbon dioxide, reducing methane emissions in the short term is more effective in slowing global warming. As one of the world’s largest methane emitters, China has continuously promoted methane emission reduction efforts in recent years, releasing its first dedicated action plan for methane control in 2023. The agricultural sector, as China’s second-largest source of methane emissions, contributes approximately 40% of the country’s total methane emissions, mainly from rice cultivation, enteric fermentation of ruminants, and livestock manure management. So, under the premise of ensuring food security for 1.4 billion people, what practical challenges does agricultural methane emission reduction face, and how can effective solutions be found?

A research team led by Professor Yumei Zhang from the College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, has conducted a comprehensive analysis on this issue. The relevant paper has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2025654).

Data shows that China’s agricultural methane emissions increased from 17.2 Mt in 1994 to 24.7 Mt in 2017. After 2017, emissions began to decline slightly, but rebounded moderately to 24.3 Mt in 2021 due to the recovery of pork production. Among these emissions, methane from enteric fermentation of ruminants accounts for the highest proportion, followed by rice cultivation and manure management. Notably, although the total emission volume remains high, the methane emission intensity per unit of output has shown a downward trend.

Since releasing its first climate change policy in 2007, China has gradually incorporated agricultural methane emission reduction into its policy framework. The Methane Emission Control Action Plan in 2023, the first policy specifically targeting methane, marks China’s transition to targeted management of non-CO2 greenhouse gases. These policies exhibit three distinct characteristics: first, the scope of coverage has become increasingly comprehensive, expanding from initial focus on rice and ruminants to include sectors such as fisheries; second, the governance entities have become diversified, with cross-departmental collaboration becoming the norm; third, the targets have become more ambitious, shifting from controlling emission growth in the early stage to proactive emission reduction. Following the implementation of these policies, the growth rate of agricultural methane emissions has slowed significantly, and even turned negative after 2017, though the overall emission reduction effect remains limited.

China’s agricultural methane emission reduction currently faces four core challenges. Firstly, there is a conflict between growing food demand and emission reduction—the recovery of pork production has led to emission rebounds, while rice, as a staple food, requires stable output, placing emission reduction in a dilemma. Secondly, the promotion of emission reduction technologies is difficult: the adoption rate of existing technologies such as low-emission rice varieties and precision feeding technologies among smallholder farmers is less than 35%, and emerging technologies like methane-suppressing feed additives are still in the experimental stage. Thirdly, the monitoring system is inadequate—scattered agricultural activities and complex emission sources make accurate monitoring and accounting difficult. Fourthly, economic incentives are insufficient: farmers incur additional costs when adopting emission reduction technologies, but there is currently a lack of stable subsidies or carbon trading mechanisms to sustain long-term emission reduction behaviors.

To address these challenges, the authors propose six specific recommendations:

1. Improve the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) system for methane emissions and establish a standardized framework;
2. Refine the action plan for agricultural methane emission reduction and develop targeted schemes for major rice-producing regions and livestock-raising provinces;
3. Strengthen technology research, development, and promotion—such as breeding high-yield, low-emission rice varieties and optimizing feed formulations—while reducing the cost of technology adoption for smallholder farmers through subsidies;
4. Establish an emission reduction compensation mechanism, such as providing government subsidies to farmers adopting emission reduction technologies or exploring the integration of agricultural methane into the carbon trading market;
5. Guide consumers to develop low-carbon dietary habits, such as reducing red meat consumption;
6. Enhance international cooperation and exchange emission reduction experiences with other countries.

This study systematically sorts out the current status, policies, challenges, and pathways of agricultural methane emission reduction in China, providing important references for subsequent policy formulation and practice. Against the backdrop of global efforts to address climate change, agricultural methane emission reduction is not only a key component of China’s “dual carbon” goals but also crucial for global short-term temperature control.

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Journal

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

DOI

10.15302/J-FASE-2025654 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Agricultural methane emission reduction in China: policy evolution, practical challenges and policy recommendations

Article Publication Date

15-Apr-2026

 

Researchers unlock signal recognition between legumes and rhizobia

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters

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Root nodules on legumes such as soybeans and alfalfa host soil bacteria known as rhizobia, which convert atmospheric nitrogen into forms of nitrogen the plant can use. Nodules hosting the "right" rhizobia for their species of plant thus act like a natural "nitrogen fertilizer factory." However, as legume roots are surrounded by a multitude of rhizobia and other bacteria, scientists have wondered how plants and bacteria ensure that only "compatible" rhizobia form nodules.

For a long time, researchers have known that legume roots secrete small signal molecules called flavonoids that are recognized by the protein NodD, a rhizobial transcription factor. Crucially, the species or strains of rhizobia that associate with specific legumes carry their own version of NodD. Although NodD was known to contribute to symbiotic specificity, how it specifically recognizes flavonoid chemical signals has remained an intriguing question.

In a major breakthrough, scientists have elucidated how NodD recognizes flavonoids by resolving, for the first time, the high-resolution crystal structure of the complex formed between the NodD protein of pea rhizobia and the flavonoid compound hesperetin. Through this process, the researchers identified key structural elements in NodD that determine signal specificity.

The study was conducted by teams led by Jeremy Murray and ZHANG Yu from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators. Results were published in Science on January 9.

In this study, the researchers found that the ligand-binding domain of the NodD protein from pea rhizobia recognizes hesperetin through two binding pockets—one located within a monomer of the NodD protein and the other situated at the dimer interface. This binding conformation is the first of its kind to be observed in the family of transcriptional regulators to which NodD belongs.

Further analysis indicated that the shape of the NodD binding pocket accommodates flavonoid molecules like hesperetin while excluding other classes of flavonoids, such as isoflavones or pterocarpans. This observation provides a structural explanation for why rhizobial NodD is only activated by specific flavonoids.

Furthermore, the researchers compared the NodDs from alfalfa and pea rhizobia. Despite an overall similarity of 80% between the two proteins, their "preferences" for different flavonoids are very different. The NodD of pea rhizobia primarily responds to flavanones/flavones, whereas the NodD of the alfalfa rhizobia mainly responds to chalcones.

Through domain-swapping experiments and extensive point mutation studies, the researchers identified several key amino acids located in critical activation regions that determine the ability of the rhizobia to respond to different types of flavonoids.

So why is this specificity needed in the first place? The researchers suggested that such precise recognition stems from millions of years of co-evolution in overlapping habitats. To ensure successful partnerships, each species accurately identifies its preferred rhizobia strain through a mutual "double-lock and key" system: The bacteria recognize unique flavonoid signals from the plant and the plant in turn recognizes specific rhizobial countersignals. This prevents mix-ups when multiple species grow alongside each other.

This study answers the question of how legume plants and rhizobia achieve signal-specific recognition through flavonoids and NodD and provides a new way to design efficient nitrogen fixation systems. In addition, it paves the way for designing efficient, crop-specific "tailor-made" rhizobia for enhanced nitrogen fixation. In this way, it holds promise for extending nitrogen-fixing symbiosis to non-legume crops such as rice and corn, thereby reducing agricultural reliance on chemical nitrogen fertilizers.

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Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.aec3061 

Article Title

The molecular basis of the binding and specific activation of rhizobial NodD by flavonoids

Article Publication Date

18-Jan-2026

 

Moral courage: deliberate decisions to defend victims of school bullying

University of Córdoba

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Credit: University of Córdoba

The Laboratory for Coexistence and Violence Prevention Studies (LAECOVI) at the UCO examines the relationship between moral courage and different forms of defense against bullying in a study involving over 3,700 students ages 10 to 16.

Bullying in schools is an issue of concern for society as a whole. Families, educators, and researchers are all committed to addressing this phenomenon, which involves sustained immoral behaviors creating imbalances between aggressors and victims. Many bullying situations occur in the presence of other students, who adopt various roles: either enabling the aggressor, defending the victim, or choosing not to intervene.

The Laboratory for Coexistence and Violence Prevention Studies at the University of Cordoba (UCO), headed up by Professor Emeritus Rosario Ortega, has spent decades researching this complex phenomenon. The group´s latest studies place the focus on defense. “We take a longitudinal approach to understand the decision-making process of bystanders witnessing bullying and the psychological variables we must consider to fully understand this highly complex process,” explains Professor Eva Romera.

One such variable is moral courage, the focus of the group’s latest study. As lead author Paula García explains: “Moral courage is a cognitive-moral mechanism that influences bystanders' decision-making in bullying situations.” It goes beyond feeling an emotion “or an impulse that makes us brave. It’s a deliberate action, taken when one is aware that what’s happening is wrong, and one weighs the risks associated with that defense,” Romera said.

The study profiles moral courage and analyzes its relationship with defending behaviors among bullying victims in a sample of over 3,700 students in grades 5–6 (primary school) and the first three years of secondary school (ESO, or compulsory secondary education, in Spain), 540 of whom reported witnessing bullying in recent months. Using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis, the study demonstrates the link between moral courage and the triggering of prosocial defense behaviors: comforting the victim, reporting incidents to authority figures, and employing conflict-resolution strategies.

“Traditionally, we’ve said that defending victims is important, but we haven’t asked how to do so. Defense can be aggressive, or it can be more prosocial, focused on seeking solutions or asking others for help,” notes Antonio Camacho, another author of the study. Overall, moral courage is more strongly related to prosocial defending attitudes, but subgroup analyses (considering age and gender) reveal that moral courage does relate to aggressive defending in boys and primary school students, with its influence on victim comforting being greater in primary than secondary school.

These findings highlight the relevance of moral courage as a driving force in prosocial defense attitudes, and that “it is important to take this into account, especially to adopt an evolutionary perspective and understand at which ages we need to focus more on this defense, or to help them observe what is happening and why they decide to act or not,” concludes Paula García.

Moral courage training

The data from years of study show that bullying peaks in late childhood or pre-adolescence, during the final years of primary school and the first years of secondary, with a decline starting in the second year of this stage. However, the same does not hold true for cyberbullying, which persists, or even increases. Additionally, this team observes clear awareness at schools and in families and society regarding this phenomenon. Research makes it possible to intervene in classrooms, and many of the studies conducted by LAECOVI are later applied directly in classrooms.

Regarding moral courage, the team has carried out a pilot project in secondary education classrooms in which they tested activities to develop students’ levels of moral courage. “We tested some activities involving practical cases where they had to become aware of the situation they were perceiving and decide whether to act or not. After analyzing the results, we observed that after these exercises, students displayed increased awareness of the phenomenon and were more decisive about acting if faced with such a situation,” García explains.

Reference:

García-Carrera, Paula & Ortega-Ruiz, Rosario & Camacho, Antonio & Félix, Eva. (2025). Coraje moral y conductas de defensa ante el acoso escolar: un estudio longitudinal con escolares de Educación Primaria y Educación Secundaria  (Moral courage and defending behaviors in the face of bullying: A longitudinal study with primary and secondary school students). Revista de Psicodidáctica. 500176.10.1016/j.psicod.2025.500176

This study was conducted as part of the TOMI research project funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (Ref.: PID2020-113911RB-I00).

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DOI

10.1016/j.psicod.2025.500176 

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Moral courage and defending behaviors in the face of bullying: A longitudinal study with Primary and Secondary School students

 

How CRISPR technology facilitates rapid on-site detection of animal pathogens?

Higher Education Press

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The rapid spread of animal diseases and pathogen evolution have long posed significant threats to the healthy development of animal husbandry. Traditional nucleic acid detection methods such as PCR rely on expensive equipment and professional personnel, making them difficult to meet the needs of on-site scenarios such as farms and rural areas. In recent years, the CRISPR-Cas system, originally developed for gene editing, has been transformed into a novel detection tool due to its ability to precisely recognize nucleic acid sequences—particularly the Class 2 Cas9, Cas12, and Cas13 proteins. When combined with isothermal amplification technology, it enables rapid and sensitive on-site detection. So, how can these technologies overcome the limitations of traditional methods and provide more convenient and efficient solutions for animal pathogen detection?

A review article by Dr. Linlin Zhang’s team from the Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Breeding and Healthy Husbandry, Tianjin Agricultural University, points out that the Class 2 CRISPR-Cas system is the key breakthrough. This type of system operates with only a single Cas protein, featuring a simple structure that is easy to modify. When paired with isothermal amplification technology, it can complete detection in a short time. For example, upon finding the target DNA, the Cas12 system activates its collateral cleavage function, cutting fluorescent probes or labeled molecules on test strips to indicate results through signal changes. The article has been published in Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering (DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2025659).

For RNA viruses (such as avian influenza virus and duck Tembusu virus), the Cas13 system exhibits outstanding performance. Its SHERLOCK platform combines recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) technology and transcription to amplify target RNA, followed by precise recognition by Cas13 to trigger fluorescent signals. Studies have shown that detecting H5 subtype avian influenza virus using Cas13 combined with RT-RAA takes only 40 minutes, with a sensitivity of 0.1 virus copy per microliter. When paired with lateral flow strips, results can be judged without instruments, facilitating use by grassroots veterinarians in the field. Additionally, Cas13 enables simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens—for instance, identifying both duck hepatitis A virus type 3 and novel duck reovirus—greatly improving diagnostic efficiency.

The core advantage of these technologies lies in their on-site friendliness: while traditional PCR takes several hours, most CRISPR-based methods can be completed within 1 hour. They offer high sensitivity down to single-copy levels (e.g., Cas12 detects porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in less than 25 minutes, recognizing just 1 virus copy), avoiding false negatives. No expensive equipment is required; operations can be performed with simple heating or at room temperature, and results are visualized (via fluorescence or test strip color changes). For example, when detecting African swine fever, farmers can obtain results within half an hour using portable test strips, enabling timely isolation of infected pigs to prevent herd-wide infection—this is crucial for reducing economic losses and controlling epidemic spread.

However, the article also highlights challenges facing the technology: some methods rely on nucleic acid amplification, posing a risk of cross-contamination; impurities such as blood and feces in animal samples may interfere with detection. Future research directions include developing amplification-free CRISPR detection technologies or optimizing systems to resist sample impurities, ensuring more reliable on-site application.

Overall, the Class 2 CRISPR-Cas system provides a new pathway for on-site detection of animal pathogens. It is expected to become a practical tool for epidemic prevention and control in animal husbandry, facilitating rapid diagnosis in resource-limited areas and safeguarding the healthy development of the industry.

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Journal

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

DOI

10.15302/J-FASE-2025659 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Research progress of Class 2 CRISPR-Cas system in nucleic acid detection of animal pathogens

Article Publication Date

15-Apr-2026