Nitrogen (N) loss from cropping systems has important environmental implications, including contamination of drinking water with nitrate. A 2-yr study evaluated the effects of six N rate, source, and timing treatments, including a variable rate (VR) N treatment based on the N sufficiency index approach using remote sensing, and two irrigation rate treatments, including conventional and reduced rate, on nitrate leaching, residual soil nitrate, and plant N uptake for potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Russet Burbank) production in 2016 and 2017 on a Hubbard loamy sand. Nitrate leaching losses measured with suction-cup lysimeters varied between 2016 and 2017 with flow-weighted mean nitrate N concentrations of 5.6 and 12.8 mg N L , respectively, and increased from 7.1 to 10.4 mg N L as N rate increased from 45 to 270 kg N ha . Despite reductions in N rate of 22 and 44 kg N ha in 2016 and 2017, respectively, for the VR N treatment, there was no significant difference in nitrate leaching compared with the existing N best management practices (BMPs). Reducing irrigation rate by 15% decreased nitrate leaching load by 17% through a reduction in percolation. Residual soil nitrate N in the top 60 cm across all treatments (7.9 mg N kg ) suggests a risk for nitrate leaching during the nongrowing season, and plant N uptake did not explain yearly variation in nitrate leaching and residual soil nitrate. Although existing N BMPs are effective at controlling N losses, development of alternative practices is needed to further reduce the risk of groundwater contamination.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20028 | DOI Listing |
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf
January 2025
College of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China; School of Breeding and Multiplication (Sanya Institute of Breeding and Multiplication), Hainan University, Sanya 572025, China.
Soil nitrogen (N) transformations control N availability and plant production and pose environmental concerns when N is lost, raising issues such as soil acidification, water contamination, and climate change. Former studies suggested that soil N cycling is chiefly regulated by microbial activity; however, emerging evidence indicates that this regulation is disrupted by heavy metal (HM) contamination, which alters microbial communities and enzyme functions critical to N transformations. Environmental factors like soil organic carbon, soil texture, water content, temperature, soil pH, N fertilization, and redox status play significant roles in modulating the response of soil N cycling to HM contamination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
January 2025
College of Resources and Environment, Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China; Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China; Chongqing Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China; Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in Southwestern China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
Nitrification inhibitors (NIs) are critical to reduce nitrogen (N) leaching losses. However, the efficacy of different NIs can be highly variable across soils and crop types, and a deeper understanding of the mechanistic basis of this efficiency variation, especially in purple soil under vegetable production, is lacking. To enrich this knowledge gap, the impact of different NIs amendment (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate, DMPP; dicyandiamide, DCD; nitrapyrin, NP) on nitrification and the microbial mechanistic basis of controlling nitrate (NO-N) leaching of vegetable purple soil was explored in southwest China.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
January 2025
State Key Laboratory for Crop Stress Resistance and High-Efficiency Production, College of Agronomy, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
Background: Blending controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer (CRNF) with ordinary nitrogen fertilizer (ONF) is a strategic approach to improve winter wheat nutrient management. This blend provides nitrogen (N) to winter wheat in a balanced and consistent manner, ensuring long-term growth, reducing nutrient loss due to leaching or volatilization, and increasing N use efficiency (NUE).
Aims: CRNF aims to enhance N application suitability, optimizes soil nutrient dynamics, and its widespread use can boost crop NUE and yield.
J Environ Qual
January 2025
Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Maintaining yield goals while reducing nitrate-nitrogen (NO-N) leaching to groundwater is a challenge for potato (Solanum tuberosum) production in the Wisconsin Central Sands as well as across the United States. The objectives of this study were to quantify the effect of conventional and enhanced efficiency nitrogen (N) fertilizers on NO-N leaching, crop yield, and N uptake in potatoes. We compared five N treatments, which include a 0 N control and 280 kg ha as ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate (AS/AN), polymer-coated urea (PCU), urea with a urease inhibitor (Urea+UI), or urea with a UI and a nitrification inhibitor (Urea+UI+NI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData Brief
February 2025
CREA - Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, I-40128 Bologna, Italy.
Farming practices such as soil tillage, organic/mineral fertilization, irrigation, crop selection and residues management influence multiple ecosystem services provided by agricultural systems. These practices exhibit complex, non-linear interrelationships that affect crop productivity, water quality, and non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, possibly offsetting their benefits regarding soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. Current methodologies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for assessing the impacts of alternative farming practices on GHG emissions rely on global or country-specific coefficients.
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