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Nitrogen Fertilization I. Nitrate Accumulation and Losses Under Continuous Corn Cropping¹

ABSTRACT

Selected treatments were chosen from three field experiments with corn (Zea mays L.) to determine effects of N rates on the vertical distribution of nitrates in the soil. The experiments were located on three different soil types and corn was grown for 5 consecutive years. Irrigation was a variable in two of the experiments.

Appreciable amounts of NO₃-N accumulated in the soils when the optimum rate of 140 kg N/ha at Blacksburg and Charlotte Courthouse and 168 kg N/ha at Orange had been exceeded. Amounts of vertical distributions of NO₃-N accumulations were highly dependent on soil type, and on amounts of irrigation and rainfall. Lowest NO₃-N accumulations and highest NO₃-N losses were encountered in the Cecil fsl. An increase in NO₃-N was found in the Davidson clay loam whereas no loss or gain was observed in the Groseclose silt loam.

Irrigation markedly reduced the maximum NO₃-N accumulation in the Davidson clay loam especially in the 120 to 195-cm depth. Irrigation on the Cecil fine sandy loam had less influence on NO₃-N and hardly affected the spread of the accumulation zone. The data indicated that proper irrigation of soils with high internal drainage can markedly reduce NO₃-N loss through leaching; the reduction in NO₃-N loss in the Cecil fine sandy loam was from 48 to 5% at near optimum N rate of application.

¹ Contribution from the Dep. of Agronomy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Financial support from the Virginia Agric. Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

² Graduate Research Assistant, now Research Officer, Soils Research Institute, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, Professor of Agronomy, and Associate Professor of Agronomy, respectively.

Received for publication May 19, 1976. Accepted for publication December 29, 1976.

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