Nitrogen and water management on irrigated alluvial soils to protect ground water quality
- Dept. of Agriculture, Lincoln, NE (United States)
- Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States)
Ground water in much of the Platte River Valley of Central Nebraska is contaminated by nitrate above the drinking water standards. Research has shown that much of the nitrate in ground water is due to excess N fertilizer and irrigation water applied to continuous corn monocultures. Nebraska's Management Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) project was established in 1990 as part of the President's Water Quality Initiative to develop and demonstrate how state-of-the-art N and water management practices can improve ground water quality while maintaining crop yields. Shallow ground water used for irrigation contains about 30 mg/L nitrate-N, which can be a valuable source of N for crops. Traditional furrow irrigation practices received two to three times as much irrigation water as either surge-flow furrow techniques or center pivot sprinkler irrigation systems. Water moving through the silt loam soil in the field under conventional furrow irrigation resulted in nitrate-N concentrations leaving the root zone averaging about 90 mg/L for the first two applications of water with a total N loss of about 88 kg/ha. Improved water application methods that distribute water more uniformly than conventional furrow irrigation allow fertilizer applications through the irrigation water (fertigation) to correct a crop N deficiency. Chlorophyll meters were used to monitor crop N status and schedule fertigation as needed. Spoon-feeding the crop resulted in a 50 to 70% savings in fertilizer N application rates compared to conventional methods of corn production.
- OSTI ID:
- 7282802
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9303210-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:3; Conference: 27. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) North-Central Section meeting, Rolla, MO (United States), 29-30 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
58 GEOSCIENCES
GROUND WATER
CONTAMINATION
WATER QUALITY
NEBRASKA
ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS
NITRATES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FERTILIZERS
IRRIGATION
WATER POLLUTION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
USA
WATER
540220* - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
540250 - Environment
Terrestrial- Site Resource & Use Studies- (1990-)
580000 - Geosciences