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Nitrate and Chloride Accumulation and Distribution in Fertilized Tile-Drained Soils¹

ABSTRACT

Results of long term continuous corn studies on tile drained Webster loam in southwest Minnesota show that annual N applications up to 70% greater than N removed in grain are required for maximum yields. The object of the reported study was to establish the relative role of N incorporation into the soil organic matter and/or losses through denitrification, downward leaching, or tile drainage in determining the fate of this fertilizer-N added above that removed in corn grain. Nitrate and chloride accumulations and distributions were determined in a Webster loam and Waldorf silty clay loam profiles after long term fertilization for continuous corn. Concentrations in the profiles were determined at 0.3 m depth intervals and at increasing distances from tile lines.

Maximum NO₃^–-N accumulations accounted for less than half of the fertilizer-N added but unrecovered in the corn grain. In contrast, Cl^– accumulations in the soil profiles were approximately equal to that added, with little or no effect of distance from tile lines on either amounts present or on profile distribution: i.e. there was relatively little Cl^– loss through tile drainage. Assuming Cl^– and NO₃^– move with water at about the same rate, the results further suggest minimal loss of NO₃^–-N in tile drainage. Since Cl^– and NO₃^– concentration are small at depths greater than 3 m, downward leaching losses are apparently minimal leaving denitrification and/or incorporation into organic matter as the mechanisms largely responsible for disappearance of the unused fertilizer-N. Denitrification is probably the main factor involved since similar experiments on well-drained Minnesota soil showed little net incorporation of N into organic matter.

Key Words: leaching • denitrification • nitrate loss • water movement

¹ Contribution from the Dep. of Soil Science, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul. Paper No. 8414 Scientific Journal Series, Minn. Agr. Exp. Sta., Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, 55101.

² Professor of Soil Science, Professor and Superintendent of the Southwestern Minn. Exp. Sta., and Professor of Soil Science, respectively.

Received for publication August 10, 1973.

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