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

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.