Effects of a catch crop and reduced nitrogen fertilization on nitrogen leaching in greenhouse vegetable production systems

• Published in: Nutrient cycling in agroecosystems Vol. 91; no. 1; pp. 31 - 39
• Main Authors: Min, Ju, Shi, Weiming, Xing, Guangxi, Zhang, Hailin, Zhu, Zhaoliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Catch crops; catches; Corn; Crop production; Crop yield; Crops; Cultivation; fallow land; Farm buildings; Fertilization; Fertilizers; Greenhouses; Growing season; Leachates; Leaching; Life Sciences; Nitrates; Nitrogen; Original Article; Soil; Summer; Sweetcorn; Vegetables; Water depth; China, People's Rep; N loss; Greenhouse vegetable; Summer catch crop; Fertilizer N management; Environmental hazard
• ISSN: 1385-1314; 1573-0867
• DOI: 10.1007/s10705-011-9441-5

Greenhouse vegetable cultivation has greatly increased productivity but has also led to a rapid accumulation of nitrate in soils and probably in plants. Significant losses of nitrate–nitrogen (NO 3 -N) could occur after heavy N fertilization under open-field conditions combined with high precipitation in the summer. It is urgently needed to improve N management under the wide spread greenhouse vegetable production system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a summer catch crop and reduced N application rates on N leaching and vegetable crop yields. During a 2-year period, sweet corn as an N catch crop was planted between vegetable crops in the summer season under 5 N fertilizer treatments (0, 348, 522, 696, and 870 kg ha −1 ) in greenhouse vegetable production systems in Tai Lake region, southern China. A water collection system was installed at a depth of 0.5 m in the soil to collect leachates during the vegetable growing season. The sweet corn as a catch crop reduced the total N concentration from 94 to 59 mg l −1 in leached water and reduced the average soil nitrate N from 306 to 195 mg kg −1 in the top 0.1-m soil during the fallow period of local farmers’ N application rate (870 kg ha −1 ). Reducing the amount of N fertilizer and using catch crop during summer fallow season reduced total N leaching loss by 50 and 73%, respectively, without any negative effect on vegetable yields.