Quantifying long-term responses of crop yield and nitrate leaching in an intensive farmland using agro-eco-environmental model

Mei Sun; Zailin Huo; Yanxia Zheng; Xiaoqin Dai; Shaoyuan Feng; Xiaomin Mao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.080

Quantifying long-term responses of crop yield and nitrate leaching in an intensive farmland using agro-eco-environmental model

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Feb 1:613-614:1003-1012. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.080. Epub 2017 Sep 26.

Authors

Mei Sun¹, Zailin Huo², Yanxia Zheng³, Xiaoqin Dai⁴, Shaoyuan Feng⁵, Xiaomin Mao⁶

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR China; Beijing water consulting co., LTD, Beijing 100048, PR China.
² Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: huozl@cau.edu.cn.
³ The South to North Water Transfer Project Construction Management Center of Beijing, Beijing 100195, PR China. Electronic address: youth_zyx@126.com.
⁴ Qianyanzhou Ecological Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China.
⁵ College of Water Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225009, PR China.
⁶ Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, PR China.

PMID: 28946373
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.080

Abstract

Quantitatively ascertaining and analyzing long-term responses of crop yield and nitrate leaching on varying irrigation and fertilization treatments are focal points for guaranteeing crop yield and reducing nitrogen loss. The calibrated agricultural-hydrological RZWQM2 model was used to explore the long-term (2003-2013) transport processes of water and nitrogen and the nitrate leaching amount into groundwater in summer maize and winter wheat rotation field in typical intensive plant area in the North China Plain, Daxing district of Beijing. Simulation results showed that application rates of irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer have couple effects on crop yields and nitrogen leaching of root zone. When both the irrigation and fertilizer for summer maize and winter wheat were 400mm and 400kgNha^-1, respectively, nitrate leaching into groundwater accounted for 47.9% of application amount of nitrogen fertilizer. When application amount of irrigation is 200mm and fertilization is 200kgNha^-1, NUPE (nitrogen uptake efficiency), NUE (nitrogen use efficiency), NPFP (nitrogen partial factor productivity), and W_pi (irrigation water productive efficiency) were in general higher than that under other irrigation and fertilization condition (irrigation from 104-400mm, fertilizer 104-400kgNha^-1). Irrigation bigger than 200mm could shorten the response time of nitrate leaching in deeper soil layer in different irrigation treatment.

Keywords: Crop yield; Intensive farmland; Irrigation and fertilization; Long-term; Nitrate leaching; RZWQM2 model.