Effect of long-term fertilization on soil nitrate distribution

Article type: Research Article

Authors: GUO, Li-ping | ZHANG, Fu-suo | WANG, Xin-ren | MAO, Da-ru | CHEN, Xin-ping

Affiliations: Department of Plant Nutrition, China Agricultural University,Beijing 100094,China.E-mail:[email protected]

Note: [] Present address: Agrometeorology Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Abstract: A thirteen years long-term field fertilizer experiment was conducted to monitor the effect of different fertilization on soil nitrate distribution. The results showed: (1) Applying relative excessive N fertilizer could result large quantities of NO_3^- residue and NO_3^- movement downward in soil profiles; amending phosphate fertilizer or organic manure with nitrogen fertilizer together could significantly improve the status of NO_3^- leaching downward due to the balanced uptake of nutrients by crops. (2) Appropriate amounts of nitrogen fertilizer which was equal or smaller than the optimal fertilization rate could not result in more NO_3^- leaching in Northern China. (3) Precipitation influenced the amounts and depth of soil NO_3^- leaching: NO_3^- could move to 80 cm depth or below at autumn or at the next spring when rainfall was higher during the rainy season through July to September in North China.

Keywords: fertilization, soil nitrate, nitrate leaching, nitrogen apparent recovery, long-term experiment

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 58-63, 2001