Abstract: In order to investigate the impact of drying process on greenhouse gas emissions and denitrifying microorganisms in paddy soil, wettingdrying process was simulated in laboratory conditions. N₂O flux, redox potential (Eh) were monitored  and narG and nosZcontaining denitrifiers abundances were determined by realtime PCR. N₂O emission was significantly increased only 4 h after drying process began, and it was more than 6 times of continuous flooding (CF) at 24 h. In addition, narG and nosZ gene abundances were increased rapidly with the drying process, and N₂O emission flux was significantly correlated with narG gene abundance (P<0.01). Our results indicated that the narGcontaining deniteifiers were the main driving microorganisms which caused the N₂O emission in the short-time drought process in paddy soil.