The estimation of nitrogen balance from agricultural activities in Ecuador
2019
Riera, A. (Iwate University (Japan). The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences) | Tsuki, M.
The importance of considering environmental impacts resulting from agricultural activities, including livestock production, are well known. In particular, nitrogen balance is required to be monitored for sustainable production. However, many developing countries do not have studies of nitrogen balance because, until recent years, the problem of nitrogen balance mainly occurred in developed countries. This study targeted Ecuadorian agricultural activities including livestock production to reveal the nitrogen balance of the whole country as well as each region. The nitrogen balance was estimated based on the soil surface balance of farmland. The balance included nitrogen inputs such as “mineral fertilizer”, “livestock manure by drylot feeding”, “atmospheric deposition” and “biological nitrogen fixation” ; and included nitrogen outputs such as “crop production”, “livestock production by grazing”, “leaching” and “gaseous losses”. The nitrogen balance of all farmland in Ecuador was estimated to be excess. Notably, mineral fertilizer application greatly contributes to excess nitrogen balance. The nitrogen balance was excessive in the north coastal and Andean regions and negative in the central and south coastal regions. In the Andean region, the nitrogen balance may be lower than current results when factoring the influence of soil erosion.
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