101(3)_str31

ISSN 1392-3196 / e-ISSN 2335-8947
Zemdirbyste-Agriculture, vol. 101, No. 3 (2014), p. 243–248
DOI  10.13080/z-a.2014.101.031

The effect of different forms of nitrogen fertilizers on nitrogen leaching

Liudmila TRIPOLSKAJA, Ingrida VERBYLIENĖ

Abstract

The aim of the work was to evaluate the effect of different forms (granular or liquid) of nitrogen fertilizers on nitrate concentration and nitrogen leaching from a sandy loam Haplic Luvisol (LVh), to identify precipitation infiltration differences in fertilized and unfertilized soils. It was revealed that fertilization with nitrogen (on average 120 kg ha^-1 N), compared to the unfertilized soil, increased the average annual nitrate concentration in leachate by 37.5–54.3% (P < 0.05). Slightly higher nitrate concentration was revealed after application of liquid fertilizer UAN 32. Compared to unfertilized soil, the impact of fertilizers on the increase of nitrate concentration in leachate was significant during summer (by 6.2–40.4 mg L^-1 NO₃; P < 0.05) and autumn (by 32.2–52.3 mg L^-1 NO₃, or 49.8–80.8%; P < 0.05). Nitrogen leaching from nitrogen-fertilized soil increased by on average 6.3–9.5 kg ha^-1 N per year, as compared with the unfertilized soil. Compared with ammonium nitrate and liquid complex fertilizer Lyderis 9-9-9, significantly more nitrogen (by 2.7–3.2 kg ha^-1 N; P < 0.05) was leached from the soil applied with liquid fertilizer UAN 32. An average of 6.0–8.9% of applied nitrogen fertilizer content was leached per year. Thicker and more vigorous crops formed in fertilized soil, this reduced the average rainfall infiltration by 13.7–16.2% per year and by 31.6–38.8% during summer period, compared with unfertilized soil. This reduced the overall nitrogen leaching losses resulting from application of fertilizers.

Key words: ammonium-N, granular fertilizers, Haplic Luvisol, liquid fertilizers, lysimeter, nitrate-N, urea-N.

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