Nitrate leaching under furrow irrigation as affected by crop sequence and tillage

Meek, B.D. and Carter, D.L. and Westermann, D.T. and Wright, J.L. and Peckenpaugh, R.E. (1995) Nitrate leaching under furrow irrigation as affected by crop sequence and tillage. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 59:204-210.

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Abstract

The potential for NO3-N leaching after alfalfa (Medicago saliva L.)
in irrigated crop production depends on cropping sequence and tillage
practices. A 2-yr field experiment in south-central Idaho compared
the NO3-N leached following alfalfa of a conventional tillage bean-bean
(Phaseolus vulgaris L.) rotation with a silage corn (Zea mays
L.)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation in a conventional
tillage or no-till system. Nitrate leaching was determined by: (i) sampling
the soil solution below the root zone (1.2 and 1.5 m) using
ceramic-tipped samplers and calculating the N movement from the
water balance, and (ii) measuring the change in soil NO3-N at 1.35
to 4.5 m from soil samples taken in the fall and spring to 4.5 m. During
the second growing season, average soil solution NO3-N concentrations
(below the root zone) were 28, 4, and 10 mg L-1 for the bean-bean,
corn-wheat no-till, and corn-wheat tilled treatments, respectively.
The soil NO3-N in 1.35 to 3.3 m at the end of the study was 80 kg
N ha-1 higher for the bean-bean treatment than for the corn-wheat
treatments. The NO3-N that moved below 1.35 m during the 2 yr
was 53 kg ha-1 higher for the bean-bean than for the corn-wheat
treatments. The soil NO3-N in the 1.35 to 3.3 m depth after 2 yr was
21 kg ha-1 higher for the corn-wheat under conventional tillage than
under the no-till system.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0862
Subjects:	Soil > Tillage Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:54
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2016 18:48
Item ID:	639
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/639