An index approach to assess nitrogen losses to the environment

Delgado, Jorge A.; Shaffer, M. J.; Hu, Chengzheng; Lavado, Raúl S.; Cueto-Wong, José Antonio; Joosse, Pamela; Sotomayor, David; Colón, Wilfredo; Follett, R. F.; DelGrosso, S.; Li, X.; Rimski‐Korsakov, Helena

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2007.10.006

Cited by 54 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…A policy that will lead to N applications of manure and fertilizer balanced with crop N demand is urgently needed, not only in developed, but also in developing countries. An intensive communication between all stakeholders (environmental agencies, policy-makers, researchers and farmers) and a controlled implementation of indicators and guidelines may contribute to a balanced application of nutrients (Delgado et al, 2008). Such an approach will be needed to meet 'planet' and 'profit' objectives and to prevent nitrate levels in groundwater from exceeding the standards for human consumption (a 'people' objective).…”

Section: Policy-making and Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen, sustainable agriculture and food security. A review

Spiertz

2010

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

291

148

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-The impact of modern agriculture on natural resources has become a major global concern. Population growth and expanding demand for agricultural products constantly increase the pressure on land and water resources. A major point of concern for many intensively managed agricultural systems with high external inputs is the low resource-use efficiency, especially for nitrogen. A high input combined with a low efficiency ultimately results in environmental problems such as soil degradation, eutrophication, pollution of groundwater, and emission of ammonia and greenhouse gases. Evidently, there is a need for a transition of current agricultural systems into highly resource-use efficient systems that are profitable, but at the same time ecologically safe and socially acceptable. Here, opportunities to improve nitrogenuse efficiency in cropping and farming systems are analyzed and discussed. In the past and present, increased productivity of the major plant production systems has been derived from genetic improvement, and from greater use of external inputs such as energy, fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation water. Aiming at improving resource-use efficiencies, in high-input systems the focus should be on more yield with less fertilizer N. In low-input systems additional use of N fertilizer may be required to increase yield level and yield stability. Developing production systems that meet the goals of sustainable agriculture requires research on different scales, from single crops to diverse cropping and farming systems. It is concluded that N supply should match N demand in time and space, not only for single crops but for a crop rotation as an integrated system, in order to achieve a higher agronomic N-use efficiency. A combination of quantitative systems research, development of best practices and legislation will be needed to develop more environmentally-friendly agricultural systems. The growing complexity of managing N in sustainable agricultural systems calls for problem-oriented, interdisciplinary research. productivity / nitrogen-use efficiency / cropping systems / biodiversity / land use / environment

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Section: Policy-making and Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen, sustainable agriculture and food security. A review

Spiertz

2010

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

291

148

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“…Many N indexes have been developed over the past 20-30 years, including the nitrate leaching index (NLI), the nitrate available to leach index, the Ontario N index, NLEAP GIS, and LEACHM-N to name but a few (e.g., Wagenet and Hutson 1989;Bock and Hergert 1991;Pierce et al 1991;Shaffer et al 1991;Williams and Kissel 1991;Shaffer and Delgado 2002;OMAFRA 2004;Wu et al 2005;van Es and Delgado 2006;Delgado et al 2008Delgado et al , 2010. The focus of the indexes ranges from economic loss (i.e., crop yield reductions due to fertilizer or manure N loss from the root zone), to environmental impact (i.e., nitrogenous greenhouse gas emissions and (or) N contamination of water resources), to various combinations of both economic loss and environmental impact (Hilborn and McKague 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The focus of the indexes ranges from economic loss (i.e., crop yield reductions due to fertilizer or manure N loss from the root zone), to environmental impact (i.e., nitrogenous greenhouse gas emissions and (or) N contamination of water resources), to various combinations of both economic loss and environmental impact (Hilborn and McKague 2003). The complexity of the N indexes increases from the simplest "Tier-1" screening or expert systems (e.g., nitrate leaching index (Williams and Kissel 1991), nitrate available to leach index ), which use basic and readily available fieldscale soil and climate information to separate risk into qualitative categories (high, medium, low), to "Tier-2" systems (e.g., NLEAP GIS (Delgado et al 2010)), which usually add some level of crop type and (or) rotation information and basic N dynamics computations to refine or improve the Tier-1 estimates, and finally to "Tier-3" systems (e.g., LEACHM-N (Wagenet and Hutson 1989)), which incorporate sophisticated N transformations models, soil measurements, and detailed tillage, crop, and climate data to obtain quantitative estimates of the amounts, rates, and pathways of N loss from the crop root zone (Shaffer and Delgado 2002;Delgado et al 2008). All three N index tiers can provide valid and useful results when applied appropriately, and at present, the Tier-1 and Tier-2 N indexes are by far the most widely used because of their simplicity and the ready availability of input data (van Es and Delgado 2006;Delgado et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solute dynamics and the Ontario nitrogen index: I. Chloride leaching

et al. 2016

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The nitrogen (N) index for humid temperate southern Ontario, Canada (Ontario N index) incorporates previous and current crop type, fertilizer and (or) manure management, and hydrologic soil group (HSG) to estimate risk for contamination of tile drainage water and groundwater by nitrate leached below the primary crop root zone (top 60 cm of soil). The Ontario N index has received limited ground-truthing, and the leaching component was assessed using chloride tracer (Cl TR ) on five soils (one sandy loam, two loams, and two clay loams) representing four HSG-based risk levels (HSG-A, high risk; HSG-B, medium risk; HSG-C, low risk; HSG-D, very low risk). A square-wave pulse of Cl TR was applied to the soil surfaces in fall 2007 as KCl, and movement and loss of Cl TR was tracked over 1-1.2 years using monthly soil core samples collected from the top 60-80 cm. For all five soils, 60-96% of Cl TR was leached out of the primary crop root zone (below 60 cm depth) during the noncropping period (October 2007 to March 2008 inclusive), and >80% was leached out of the root zone within 1 year. The percentage of Cl TR that leached did not correlate with precipitation or HSG designation, but produced significant (P < 0.05) power function regressions with minimum and harmonic mean saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (K sat ) measured in the top 50-60 cm. Cl TR leaching rate appeared to be controlled primarily by K sat in a manner consistent with infiltration and solute transport theory. It was consequently proposed that solute leaching loss versus K sat relationships may improve N index risk estimates for both southern Ontario and other humid temperate regions.Key words: nitrogen index, chloride tracer, leaching risk, hydrologic soil group, K sat .Résumé : L'indice de l'azote (N) pour le climat tempéré humide du sud de l'Ontario (Canada), aussi appelé indice azoté de l'Ontario, tient compte de la nature de la culture actuelle et de la culture antérieure, des pratiques de gestion des engrais et du fumier ainsi que du groupe hydrologique du sol (HSG) établi d'après le type de sol et de drainage pour estimer les risques de contamination de l'eau drainée par les canalisations en terre cuite et l'eau souterraine avec les nitrates qui fuient la zone primaire des racines de la culture (couche supérieure de 60 cm du sol). L'indice azoté de l'Ontario n'a été vérifié que de façon restreinte sur le terrain aussi les auteurs en ont-ils évalué le volet lixiviation sur cinq sols (un loam sablonneux, deux loams et deux loams argileux) en utilisant comme traceur du chlorure (Cl TR ), de manière à illustrer quatre niveaux de risque fondés sur le HSG (HSG-A, risque élevé; HSG-B, risque moyen; HSG-C, faible risque; HSG-D, très faible risque). À l'automne 2007, ils ont appliqué une pulsation carrée de Cl TR à la surface du sol sous forme de KCl, puis suivi le déplacement et les pertes du traceur pendant 1-1,2 an en prélevant mensuellement des carottes dans la couche supérieure de 60 à 80 cm. Dans tous les cas, 60 à 96 % du Cl TR avaient ...

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“…However, excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers can cause several environmental problems, including agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANPSP) (Delgado et al 2008;Jones and Olson-Rutz 2011). China's first national pollution census bulletin highlighted that combined emission from agricultural sources (i.e., excessive use of fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers) has been identified as the main culprit (Fredrich et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of nitrate leakage and N2O emission from five environmental-friendly agricultural practices using fuzzy logic method and empirical formula

Qin

Wang

et al. 2015

Environ Monit Assess

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Agricultural nonpoint source pollution in China has been the major environmental problem, so environmental-friendly agricultural practices (EAPs) must be promoted to improve environmental quality. However, the most suitable practices for each agricultural region must first be identified. Thus, in the presented study a fuzzy-logic method and a revised empirical formula were used to assess nitrate leakage and N 2 O emissions, respectively, and to compare five EAPs in Xinxiang, a major grain-producing county in Henan Province, China. The required information was collected in face-to-face interviews with 10 extension service experts from the county, using a questionnaire to explore their opinions of the EAPs currently adopted by smallholder farmers, as well as the amounts, frequencies, varieties and proportions of nitrogen fertilizers applied annually. The results indicate that reduced tillage, soil testing and fertilizer recommendations would be the most appropriate practices to initially promote on a large scale in Xinxiang.

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An index approach to assess nitrogen losses to the environment

Cited by 54 publications

References 30 publications

Nitrogen, sustainable agriculture and food security. A review

Nitrogen, sustainable agriculture and food security. A review

Solute dynamics and the Ontario nitrogen index: I. Chloride leaching

Assessment of nitrate leakage and N2O emission from five environmental-friendly agricultural practices using fuzzy logic method and empirical formula

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