Nitrate leaching in agriculture to upper groundwater in the sandy regions of the Netherlands during the 1992–1995 period

Boumans, L.J.M.; Fraters, B.; Drecht, G. Van

doi:10.1007/s10661-005-6023-5

Cited by 37 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…During sampling the groundwater level was recorded and in each sample DOC was measured. In addition, for each sample a value for the precipitation surplus was calculated (Boumans et al 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Especially N-surpluses are associated with losses from the system through nitrate leaching, ammonia volatilization and dissipation as N 2 or NO x Delgado 2002). The losses can negatively affect the quality of groundwater (Boumans et al 2005), surface water (Collingwood 1977;Jensen et al 1991) and air (Monteny 2000). Nitrate leaching to groundwater presents risks for drinking water supplies and is associated with eutrophication in streams and lakes (Hosper 1997;Scheffer 1998).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Reducing Nitrate Leaching to Groundwater in an Intensive Dairy Farming System

Verloop¹,

Boumans

Keulen³

et al. 2006

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Dairy farming is one of the main contributors to nitrate leaching to groundwater, particularly on soils that are susceptible to leaching, such as light well-drained sandy soils. In the Netherlands, as in many other European countries, these soils are predominantly used for dairy farming. A prototype dairy farming system that has been implemented in practice in 1989 has continuously been adapted since then to meet environmental standards (i.e. the EU-standard of 50 mg NO 3 À l À1 ) without reducing milk production intensity (11900 kg ha À1 ). After an initial decline in nitrate concentration from 193 mg l À1 to 63 upon implementation, it subsequently 'stabilized' at a level higher than the environmental standard: 55 mg l À1 . The goal of this paper is to examine causes of excessive nitrate leaching. This was done by relating measured nitrate concentrations with management characteristics such as N balances, cropping patterns and grazing intensities. Special attention was paid to aspects that were supposed to be conducive for leaching: crop rotation of grass and maize and grazing. No evidence was found for enhanced nitrate leaching due to the rotation of grass with maize compared to permanent cultivation. This could be ascribed to the reduction in fertilization levels in first and second year maize with 90 and 45 kg N ha À1 , respectively to account for the expected N release from the ploughed-in grass sod. Triticale was found to lead to higher leaching than grass or maize which is attributed to its poor growth in the period that it should function as catch crop in maize. Grazing contributed to a nitrate increase of about 30 mg NO 3 À l À1 on grassland. As grazing management and intensity is already strictly optimized in order to restrict nitrate leaching, this result underpins the need to develop sustainable grazing methods on soil that is susceptible to nitrate leaching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Nitrate Leaching to Groundwater in an Intensive Dairy Farming System

Verloop¹,

Boumans

Keulen³

et al. 2006

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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“…However, downward movement of nitrate and dilution in the precipitation surplus determines to what extent the nitrate concentration in the upper groundwater is determined by the management of just 'year n -1'. ONZAT (Van Drecht 1983;OECD 1989) was used to calculate an index for dilution and duration of percolation for each measured nitrate concentration (Boumans et al 2005). Year-and locationspecific weather data from KNMI (the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) were used as model input.…”

Section: Dilution and Duration Of Percolationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrate in upper groundwater on farms under tillage as affected by fertilizer use, soil type and groundwater table

Ruijter

Boumans

Smit

et al. 2006

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Indicators are needed to check whether policies on protection of groundwater are effective and if regulations are complied with. We evaluated various indicators at different scales, both in space and in time, and at different degrees of complexity. Groundwater was sampled on 34 arable farms for 3 years. Nitrate concentration in upper groundwater was low on clay soil. On sandy soil, peat layers reduced the nitrate concentration with about 80 mg/l on average. Sandy soils with high groundwater tables had nitrate concentrations that were less than half of those at sandy soils with low groundwater tables. The relationship between different fertilization variables and nitrate in groundwater was investigated for sandy soils without peat layers. N surplus poorly correlated with nitrate concentrations in groundwater when individual sampling points were studied, but clearly increased when data were averaged at the farm level. Soil mineral nitrogen correlated best with nitrate concentrations in groundwater. The relationships show that especially on well drained soil drastic measures will be inevitable to reach good water quality.

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“…One approach to answer this question is to compare deciduous and coniferous forest stands under comparable local site conditions. Climate , soil type (Silva et al 2005;Boumans et al 2004), land use history (Matson et al 2002), pollutant emission level (Matson et al 2002), successional phase (Aber et al 1989;Å gren and Bosatta 1988;Cairns and Lajtha 2005), distance to forest edge (Weathers et al 2001), and experimental set-up (Bleeker et al 2003) are all known to have a significant impact on the element fluxes observed. The aim of this paper is to find out how coniferous and deciduous broadleaved forests differ in terms of element throughfall (+stemflow) deposition and seepage flux to groundwater.…”

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confidence: 99%

The effect of forest type on throughfall deposition and seepage flux: a review

et al. 2007

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Converting deciduous forests to coniferous plantations and vice versa causes environmental changes, but till now insight into the overall effect is lacking. This review, based on 38 case studies, aims to find out how coniferous and deciduous forests differ in terms of throughfall (+stemflow) deposition and seepage flux to groundwater. From the comparison of coniferous and deciduous stands at comparable sites, it can be inferred that deciduous forests receive less N and S via throughfall (+stemflow) deposition on the forest floor. In regions with relatively low open field deposition of atmospheric N (<10 kg N ha(-1) year(-1)), lower NH(4)(+) mean throughfall (+stemflow) deposition was, however, reported under conifers compared to deciduous forest, while in regions with high atmospheric N pollution (>10 kg N ha(-1) year(-1)), the opposite could be concluded. The higher the open field deposition of NH(4)(+), the bigger the difference between the coniferous and deciduous throughfall (+stemflow) deposition. Furthermore, it can be concluded that canopy exchange of K(+), Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) is on average higher in deciduous stands. The significantly higher stand deposition flux of N and S in coniferous forests is reflected in a higher soil seepage flux of NO(3)(-), SO(4)(2-), K(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+) and Al(III). Considering a subset of papers for which all necessary data were available, a close relationship between throughfall (+stemflow) deposition and seepage was found for N, irrespective of the forest type, while this was not the case for S. This review shows that the higher input flux of N and S in coniferous forests clearly involves a higher seepage of NO(3)(-) and SO(4)(2-) and accompanying cations K(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+) and Al(III) into the groundwater, making this forest type more vulnerable to acidification and eutrophication compared to the deciduous forest type.

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Nitrate leaching in agriculture to upper groundwater in the sandy regions of the Netherlands during the 1992–1995 period

Cited by 37 publications

References 39 publications

Reducing Nitrate Leaching to Groundwater in an Intensive Dairy Farming System

Reducing Nitrate Leaching to Groundwater in an Intensive Dairy Farming System

Nitrate in upper groundwater on farms under tillage as affected by fertilizer use, soil type and groundwater table

The effect of forest type on throughfall deposition and seepage flux: a review

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