Nitrate movement in sandy soil under varying water and fertilizer management

Abstract

The field evaluation and prediction of nitrate-nitrogen movement are given for varying rates of irrigation and urea application to wheat growing on a sandy soil. Nitrate leaching increased and depth to peak concentration moved deeper with heavier irrigation. Larger splits of nitrogen in combination with light irrigation reduced the leaching loss, permitting greater utilization of nitrogen by plants. Under heavier irrigation, the amount of residual nitrogen increased with the number of nitrogen splits. A simple analytical solution has been presented for predicting the movement of surface applied solutes. The solution can be used for predicting nitrate leaching losses. The applicability of the expression in determining depth to peak concentration is established under a variety of situations.