Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-22T09:46:50.983Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nitrate leaching from sheep-grazed grass/clover and fertilized grass pastures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

S. P. Cuttle ,
M. Hallard ,
G. Daniel  and
R. V. Scurlock
S. P. Cuttle
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
M. Hallard
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
G. Daniel
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
R. V. Scurlock
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Nitrate leaching from sheep-grazed pastures was measured over three winters between 1987 and 1990 at a lowland site in Wales. Losses from replicated plots of ryegrass/white clover (Lolium perenne/Trifoliwn repens) pasture that received no N fertilizer and from pure ryegrass pasture receiving 150–200 kg fertilizer-N/ha per year were determined using suction cup samplers. In Year 1, the average clover content of the grass/clover swards (April-September) was equivalent to 35% of total dry matter but declined during the course of the experiment and was only 4% in Year 3. Concentrations of nitrate and quantities of N leached from separate sampling positions exhibited a wide range of values and conformed to a log-normal distribution. In the first two winters, mean nitrate concentrations in soil water and quantities leached from grass/clover plots were greater than those from fertilized grass plots. In Year 3 the loss from the N-fertilized plots was higher and exceeded that from the grass/clover treatment. Total quantities of N leached during the three winters ranged from 6 to 33 kg N/ha from grass/clover plots and from 2 to 24 kg N/ha from fertilized grass plots. At no time did mean nitrate concentrations from either treatment exceed 11 mg N/litre. These values probably underestimate the true loss as the distribution of the main sets of water samplers did not provide adequate coverage of those areas of the plots where sheep congregated and which received high returns of excreta. These positions were characterized by particularly high leaching losses. Differences between losses from the two treatments and between years could only be partly explained by the decline in clover content and differences in stocking rates.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 119 , Issue 3 , December 1992 , pp. 335 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Avery, B. W. (1980). Soil Classification for England and Wales (Higher Categories). Technical Monograph 14. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Ball, P. R. (1982). Nitrogen balances in intensively managed pasture systems. In Nitrogen Balances in New Zealand Ecosystems, Proceedings of Workshop, Palmerston North, May 1980, pp. 47–66. New Zealand: DSIR.Google Scholar
Belford, R. K. (1979). Collection and evaluation of large soil monoliths for soil and crop studies. Journal of Soil Science 30, 363–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crooke, W. M. & Simpson, W. E. (1971). Determination of ammonium in Kjeldahl digests of crops by an automated procedure. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 22, 9–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elsmere, J. L. (1989). Survey of fertilizer practice, 1988. Annual Report 1989, Institute of Arable Crops Research, p. 79. Harpenden: Rothamsted Experimental Station.Google Scholar
European Economic Community (1980). Council directive on the Quality of Water for Human Consumption. Official J. No. 80/778 EEC L229, 11.Google Scholar
Garwood, E. A. & Ryden, J. C. (1986). Nitrate loss through leaching and surface runoff from grassland: effects of water supply, soil type and management. In Nitrogen Fluxes in Intensive Grassland Systems (Eds Meer, H. G. van der, Ryden, J. J. and Ennik, G. G.), pp. 99–113. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.Google Scholar
Garwood, E. A. & Tyson, K. C. (1977). High loss of nitrogen in drainage from soil under grass following a prolonged period of low rainfall. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 89, 767–768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossmann, J. & Udluft, P. (1991). The extraction of soil water by the suction-cup method: a review. Journal of Soil Science 42, 83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henriksen, A. & Selmer-Olsen, A. R. (1970). Automatic methods of determining nitrate and nitrite in water and soil extracts. Analyst 95, 514–518.Google Scholar
Macduff, J. H., Steenvoorden, J. H. A. M., Scholefield, D. & Cuttle, S. P. (1990). Nitrate leaching from grazed grassland. In Proceedings of the 13th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Volume 2 (Eds N., Gáborčik, V., Krajčovič & M., Zimková), pp. 18–24. Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia: Grassland Research Institute.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (1988). Fertilizer Recommendations. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Reference Book 209. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Parsons, A. J., Orr, R. J., Penning, P. D. & Lockyer, D. R. (1991). Uptake, cycling and fate of nitrogen in grass-clover swards continuously grazed by sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 116, 47–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C. (1985). Soils of Cae Ruel. Unpublished survey report for the Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth. Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C., Hartnup, R., Lea, J. W., Thompson, T. R. E. & Wright, P. S. (1984). Soils and their Use in Wales. Bulletin No. 11. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Ryden, J. C. (1984). The Flow of Nitrogen in Grassland. Proceedings No. 229. London: The Fertiliser Society.Google Scholar
Ryden, J. C., Ball, P. R. & Garwood, E. A. (1984). Nitrate leaching from grassland. Nature 311, 50–53.Google Scholar
Shaffer, K. A., Fritton, D. D. & Baker, D. E. (1979). Drainage water sampling in a wet, dual-pore soil system. Journal of Environmental Quality 8, 241–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sichel, H. S. (1952). New methods in the statistical evaluation of mine sampling data. Transactions of the London Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 61, 261–288.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. & Cochran, W. G. (1980). Statistical Methods. 7th Edition. Ames: Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Stevens, P. A. (1981). Modification and Operation of Ceramic Cup Soil Solution Sampler for Use in a Geochemical Cycling Study. Occasional Paper No. 8, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Bangor Research Station.Google Scholar
Wagner, G. H. (1962). Use of porous ceramic cups to sample soil water within the profile. Soil Science 94, 379–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, C. P. & Dowdell, R. J. (1984). Effect of drought and irrigation on the fate of nitrogen applied to cut permanent grass swards in lysimeters: leaching losses. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 35, 1105–1111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, R. E., Haigh, R. A. & Macduff, J. H. (1987). Frequency distributions and spatially dependent variability of ammonium and nitrate concentrations in soil under grazed and ungrazed grassland. Fertilizer Research 11, 193–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar