
%0 Journal Article
%A Magesan, GN 
%A White, RE 
%A Scotter, DR 
%T Nitrate leaching from a drained, sheep-grazed pasture. I. Experimental results and environmental implications
%J Soil Research
%D 1996/02/01
%V 34
%N 1
%P 55-67
%K chloride, drainage, fertilizer, nitrate.
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/SR9960055
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/SR9960055 
%X Nitrate-nitrogen (N) and chloride concentrations were measured in the drainage from two hydrologically similar mole- and pipe-drained paddocks over 3 years: 1989, 1990 and 1991. Urea (50 kg N/ha) that was applied to both paddocks in early spring 1989 had no effect on the nitrate concentrations in the drainage water. In late autumn 1990, 120 kg N/ha as urea was applied to one of the paddocks, but the nitrate leached in the following winter was equivalent to only 8% Of the fertilizer N. The nitrate concentrations in the drainage were greater than 10 g N/m3 for most of the season, with peak concentrations up to 35 g N/m3, even for the paddock where urea was not applied. The paddocks were periodically mob-grazed by sheep during the monitoring period, but this had no measurable effect on the nitrate and chloride concentrations in the drainage collected during or immediately after grazing. 
