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TECHNICAL REPORTS
Landscape and Watershed Processes

Nitrate Exported in Drainage Waters of Two Sprinkler-Irrigated Watersheds

^a Dep. Genética y Producción Vegetal, Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (CSIC), and Laboratorio de Agronomía y Medio Ambiente (DGA-CSIC), Apdo. 202, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain
^b Dirección General de Estructuras Agrarias (DGA), P. M^a Agustín 36, 50004 Zaragoza, Spain
^c Unidad de Suelos y Riegos, Servicio de Investigación Agroalimentaria (DGA), and Laboratorio de Agronomía y Medio Ambiente (DGA-CSIC), Apdo. 727, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain

^* Corresponding author (jcavero{at}eead.csic.es)

Received for publication March 4, 2002. Nitrate contamination of surface waters has been linked to irrigated agriculture across the world. We determined the NO₃–N loads in the drainage waters of two sprinkler-irrigated watersheds located in the Ebro River basin (Spain) and their relationship to irrigation and N management. Crop water requirements, irrigation, N fertilization, and the volume and NO₃–N concentration of drainage waters were measured or estimated during two-year (Watershed A; 494 irrigated ha) and one-year (Watershed B; 470 irrigated ha) study periods. Maize (Zea mays L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) were grown in 40 to 60% and 15 to 33% of the irrigated areas, respectively. The seasonal irrigation performance index (IPI) ranged from 92 to 100%, indicating high-quality management of irrigation. However, the IPI varied among fields and overirrigation occurred in 17 to 44% of the area. Soil and maize stalk nitrate contents measured at harvest indicated that N fertilizer rates could be decreased. Drainage flows were 68 mm yr^-1 in Watershed A and 194 mm yr^-1 in Watershed B. Drainage NO₃–N concentrations were independent of drainage flows and similar in the irrigated and nonirrigated periods (average: 23–29 mg L^-1). Drainage flows determined the exported mass of NO₃–N, which varied from 18 (Watershed A) to 49 (Watershed B) kg ha^-1 yr^-1, representing 8 (Watershed A) and 22% (Watershed B) of the applied fertilizer plus manure N. High-quality irrigation management coupled to the split application of N through the sprinkler systems allowed a reasonable compromise between profitability and reduced N pollution in irrigation return flows.

Abbreviations: IPI, irrigation performance index • NIR, net irrigation requirement • PET_c, crop potential evapotranspiration • V_iw, volume of irrigation water

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JEQ 2003 32: 745-750. [Full Text]  

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