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Nitrate Leaching and Drainage from Annual and Perennial Crops in Tile-drained Plots and Lysimeters¹

ABSTRACT

Leaching of NO₃ with drainage water from tile-drained field plots and from three types of lysimeters was estimated during a 4-yr period. Treatments included barley (Hordeum distichum L.) with and without N-fertilizer, a grass ley (Festuca pratensis), and a lucerne ley (Medicago sativa) (i.e., 4-yr forage crops). The maximum amount of NO₃ leached was 36 kg N ha^–1 yr^–1 for barley fertilized with Ca(NO₃)₂ (120 kg N ha^–1 yr^–1). For unfertilized barley the corresponding amount was 5 kg N ha^–1 during the same period. The NO₃ fluxes from the grass and lucerne leys were mostly below 5 kg N ha^–1 yr^–1. However, after the grass ley was plowed, considerable leaching occurred, reaching 42 kg N ha^–1 during 20 weeks following plowing. Weather conditions had a strong influence on the temporal distribution of leaching losses. Lysimeters, compared with tile-drained plots, had generally higher drainage volumes. The slow dynamics of groundwater beneath the drainage-tiles can explain most of this difference. Lysimeters with disturbed soil profiles usually had higher drainage volumes than lysimeters with undisturbed profiles. Despite these differences, all methods consistently estimated the relative differences between the cropping systems concerning leaching of NO₃. The degree of variation in drainage flow between lysimeter replicates was also satisfactorily low.

Key Words: disturbed soil • groundwater • plowing of leys

¹ This work was conducted within the project "Ecology of Arable Land. The Role of Organisms in Nitrogen Cycling." Financial support was received from the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research, the Swedish Council for Forestry and Agricultural Research, the Swedish Natural Science Research Council, and the National Swedish Environmental Protection Board.

² Research Assistant, Dep. of Soil Sciences, Div. of Water Management, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.

Received for publication March 31, 1986.

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