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TECHNICAL REPORTS
Plant and Environment Interactions

Residual Soil Nitrate after Potato Harvest

^a Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Soils and Crops Research and Development Centre, 2560 Hochelaga Boulevard, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1V 2J3
^b McCain Foods Limited, 317 Main Street, Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada E7L 3G6
^c Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Atlantic Cool Climate Crops Research Centre, Brookfield Road, P.O. Box 39088, St-John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1E 5Y7
^d Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Potato Research Centre, P.O. Box 20280, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 4Z7

^* Corresponding author (Belangergf{at}agr.gc.ca)

Received for publication April 12, 2002. Nitrogen loss by leaching is a major problem, particularly with crops requiring large amounts of N fertilizer. We evaluated the effect of N fertilization and irrigation on residual soil nitrate following potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) harvests in the upper St-John River valley of New Brunswick, Canada. Soil nitrate contents were measured to a 0.90-m depth in three treatments of N fertilization (0, 100, and 250 kg N ha^-1) at two on-farm sites in 1995, and in four treatments of N fertilization (0, 50, 100, and 250 kg N ha^-1) at four sites for each of two years (1996 and 1997) with and without supplemental irrigation. Residual soil NO₃–N content increased from 33 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 in the unfertilized check plots to 160 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 when 250 kg N ha^-1 was applied. Across N treatments, residual soil NO₃–N contents ranged from 30 to 105 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 with irrigation and from 30 to 202 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 without irrigation. Residual soil NO₃–N content within the surface 0.30 m was related (R² = 0.94) to the NO₃–N content to a 0.90-m depth. Estimates of residual soil NO₃–N content at the economically optimum nitrogen fertilizer application (N_op) ranged from 46 to 99 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 under irrigated conditions and from 62 to 260 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 under nonirrigated conditions, and were lower than the soil NO₃–N content measured with 250 kg N ha^-1. We conclude that residual soil NO₃–N after harvest can be maintained at a reasonable level (<70 kg NO₃–N ha^-1 ) when N fertilization is based on the economically optimum N application.

Abbreviations: N_op, economically optimum nitrogen fertilizer application

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