Effects of Adapted N-Fertilisation Strategies on Nitrate Leaching and Yield Performance of Arable Crops in North-Western Germany

Kühling, Insa; Beiküfner, Mareike; Vergara, Maria; Trautz, Dieter

doi:10.3390/agronomy11010064

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…As for the soil N level, although the net irrigation rates were different depending on the weather conditions, no statistical significance was observed (Table 6). As expected, the soil N level increased with the increase of N fertilizers (r = 0.40) and decreased toward the end of the study period (r = −0.72), which is in line with the previous study of Kühling et al [49]. Our result confirmed that nitrate leaching due to a higher N rate occurred, especially in growing conditions with a high rainfall amount and a high irrigation rate.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Our result confirmed that nitrate leaching due to a higher N rate occurred, especially in growing conditions with a high rainfall amount and a high irrigation rate. The same general pattern of higher leaching losses was found in many previous studies [46,49,82,83].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…According to the regulation, the N target in groundwater is 50 mg NO 3-L −1 . Besides the N fertilizer rate [47][48][49], NO 3 leaching depends on the weather conditions [50][51][52], soil type [53][54][55], and irrigation [56][57][58][59]. Hence, the objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of irrigation and N fertilizer rate on grain yield (GY) and grain composition in terms of the grain starch content (GSC), grain protein content (GPC), and grain oil content (GOC) of maize hybrids with similar maturity groups during three successive and quite different climatic years with pronounced extreme weather events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Extreme Weather Events Affect Agronomic Practices and Their Environmental Impact in Maize Cultivation

et al. 2021

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Sustainable and profitable crop production has become a challenge due to frequent weather extremes, where unstable crop yields are often followed by the negative impacts of agronomic practices on the environment, i.e., nitrate leaching in irrigated and nitrogen (N)-fertilized crop production. To study this issue, a three-year field study was conducted during quite different growing seasons in terms of weather conditions, i.e., extremely wet, extremely dry, and average years. Over three consecutive years, the irrigation and N fertilizers rates were tested for their effect on grain yield and composition, i.e., protein, starch, and oil content of the maize hybrids; soil N level (%); and nitrate leaching. The results showed that the impact of the tested factors and their significance was year- or weather-condition-dependent. The grain yield result stood out during the extremely wet year, where the irrigation rate reduced the grain yield by 7.6% due to the stress caused by the excessive amount of water. In the remainder of the study, the irrigation rate expectedly increased the grain yield by 13.9% (a2) and 20.8% (a3) in the extremely dry year and 22.7% (a2) and 39.5% (a3) during the average year. Regardless of the weather conditions, the N fertilizer rate increased the grain yield and protein content. The soil N level showed a typical pattern, where the maximum levels were at the beginning of the study period and were higher as the N fertilizer rate was increased. Significant variations in the soil N level were found between weather conditions (r = −0.719) and N fertilizer rate (r = 0.401). Nitrate leaching losses were expectedly found for irrigation and N fertilizer treatments with the highest rates (a3b3 = 79.8 mg NO3− L).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Extreme Weather Events Affect Agronomic Practices and Their Environmental Impact in Maize Cultivation

et al. 2021

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“…The acceptable threshold for nitrate concentration in drinking water is 50 mg/L according to the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value. Also, many researchers have specifically limelight that nitrate concentrations greater than 10 mg/L in production wells suggest pollution from human sources and can lead to serious and fatal health consequences, such as methemoglobinemia (Sener et al, 2009;Adimalla et al, 2021;Emeka et al, 2021;Kühling et al, 2021;Tsagris & Tzouvelekas, 2021). Graphically, Figure 12 presents the nitrate concentrations of the sampled wells in the study area.…”

Section: The Spatial Nitrate Concentrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of GIS and F-Hydra Model for Aquifer Vulnerability Monitoring in the Afram Plains, Ghana

Agyare¹,

Kabo-bah²,

Bayel³

et al. 2021

GEP

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Aquifer vulnerability is a critical issue across the entire globe due to the depletion of groundwater and escalation of pollution levels, which poses a detrimental effect on the natural environment. To ascertain this contamination risk, an extensive study has been conducted to assess the aquifer vulnerability by using the F-hydra model. This paper presents the vulnerability technique for the theory and application of flow accumulation, land-use and hydraulic conductivity. The model was applied to a shallow aquifer in eastern Ghana's Volta River Basin, with the results being compared to the standardised DRASTIC model. The model follows the aquifer vulnerability assessment concept of the source pathway receptor where flow accumulation represents the ponding areas with downward percolation of contaminant to the water table, land-use represents the human activities at the land surface, and hydraulic conductivity represents the driving force leading to the movement of contaminant. The results reveal that the moderate vulnerability region covers 51.55% (2598.12 km 2 ) of the entire area. The high and low vulnerability regions cover a significant percentage of the area 1.13% (56.52 km 2 ) and 47.32% (2384.93 km 2 ), respectively. The final vulnerability index was largely influenced by the removal of the hydraulic conductivity and land-use parameters. The model was validated with nitrate concentration in drilled wells in the study area. The maps produced in this study could be utilised as a guide to vulnerability by policymakers, groundwater manager and planners aimed at preserving the integrity of this vulnerable resource.

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“…The K s is an indicator of the infiltration capacity of the soil, respectively, the upper limit of the rate of water infiltration into the soil [77]. The infiltration rate is an essential property of the soil that has a clear connection with the manifestations of plant water stress, the amount of leached nitrates, or other nutrients from agricultural (including tile-drained) soils, and with an intensity of water erosion [78][79][80]. The problem of the practical use of direct in situ measurement of the K s is technical, time, management and financial complexity.…”

Section: Data and Their Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Infiltration Features and Hydraulic Properties of Soils Based on Crop Water Stress Derived from Remotely Sensed Data

et al. 2021

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Knowledge of the spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties is important for many reasons, e.g., for soil erosion protection, or the assessment of surface and subsurface runoff. Nowadays, precision agriculture is gaining importance for which knowledge of soil hydraulic properties is essential, especially when it comes to the optimization of nitrogen fertilization. The present work aimed to exploit the ability of vegetation cover to identify the spatial variability of soil hydraulic properties through the expression of water stress. The assessment of the spatial distribution of saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and field water capacity (FWC) was based on a combination of ground-based measurements and thermal and hyperspectral airborne imaging data. The crop water stress index (CWSI) was used as an indicator of crop water stress to assess the hydraulic properties of the soil. Supplementary vegetation indices were used. The support vector regression (SVR) method was used to estimate soil hydraulic properties from aerial data. Data analysis showed that the approach estimated Ks with good results (R2 = 0.77) for stands with developed crop water stress. The regression coefficient values for estimation of FWC for topsoil (0–0.3 m) ranged from R2 = 0.38 to R2 = 0.99. The differences within the study sites of the FWC estimations were higher for the subsoil layer (0.3–0.6 m). R2 values ranged from 0.12 to 0.99. Several factors affect the quality of the soil hydraulic features estimation, such as crop water stress development, condition of the crops, period and time of imaging, etc. The above approach is useful for practical applications for its relative simplicity, especially in precision agriculture.

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Effects of Adapted N-Fertilisation Strategies on Nitrate Leaching and Yield Performance of Arable Crops in North-Western Germany

Cited by 18 publications

References 53 publications

Extreme Weather Events Affect Agronomic Practices and Their Environmental Impact in Maize Cultivation

Extreme Weather Events Affect Agronomic Practices and Their Environmental Impact in Maize Cultivation

Integration of GIS and F-Hydra Model for Aquifer Vulnerability Monitoring in the Afram Plains, Ghana

Identification of Infiltration Features and Hydraulic Properties of Soils Based on Crop Water Stress Derived from Remotely Sensed Data

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