7831: A model analysis on nitrate leaching under different soil and climate conditions and use of catch crops

Pedersen, Anders; Stoumann Jensen, Lars and Thorup-Kristensen, Kristian (2005) A model analysis on nitrate leaching under different soil and climate conditions and use of catch crops. Poster presented at at 14th N WORKSHOP “N management in agrosystems in relation to the Water Framework Directive”, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 24-26 October 2005,.

Summary

The use of crops and catch crops with deep rooting can strongly improve the possibility of retaining nitrate-N that will otherwise be leached to the deeper soil layers and end up in the surrounding environment. But will it always be an advantage for the farmer to
grow a catch crop? This will depend on factors such as soil mineral nitrogen level, soil water holding capacity, winter precipitation, rooting depth and N demand of the scceeding crop. These factors interact, and it can be very difficult for farmers or advisors to use this information to decide whether growing a catch crop will be beneficial. To analyse the effect of catch crops under different Danish soil and precipitation conditions, we used the soil, plant and atmosphere model Daisy.

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