Impact of agricultural management on nitrate concentrations in drainage waters
1998
Goldstein, W.A. | Scully, M.J. | Kohl, D.H. | Shearer, G.
Nitrate contamination of surface water resulting from inputs of agricultural drainage water is a widespread problem. To learn whether alternative agricultural practices might ameliorate this problem, we measured NO3(-) in water draining from three neighboring fields from 1970 to 1992. Drainage water from two fields fertilized with N exclusively as composted and liquid manure had NO3(-) concentrations less than 2 ppm (20% of the Public Health Service recommended limit for drinking water). When these fields were converted to a corn/soybean rotation fertilized with anhydrous ammonia, NO3(-) concentration increased about 7- to 10-fold. On a third field, corn was always fertilized with anhydrous ammonia. Changing this field from a rotation of corn, oats and hay to corn/soybean and increasing the rate of N fertilization by about 18% almost doubled the NO3(-) concentration in the drainage water. The corn/soybean rotation most prevalent in the Corn Belt today resulted in high NO3(-) concentrations in the drainage water, while the alternative system prevented NO3(-) problems.
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