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Characteristics of nitrogen loading and its influencing factors in several typical agricultural watersheds of subtropical China

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Abstract

Increasingly, the characteristics of nitrogen (N) loading have been recognized to be critical for the maintenance and restoration of water quality in agricultural watersheds, in response to the spread of water eutrophication. This paper estimates N loading and investigates its influencing factors in ten small watersheds variously dominated by forest and agricultural land use types in the subtropics of China, over an observation period of 23–29 months. The results indicate that the average concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), NH4 +–N, and NO3 −–N were 0.83, 0.07, and 0.46 mg N L−1 in the forest watersheds and 1.49–5.16, 0.21–3.23, and 0.99–1.30 mg N L−1 in the agricultural watersheds, respectively. Such concentrations exceed the national criteria for nutrient pollution in surface waters considerably, suggesting severe stream pollution in the studied agricultural watersheds. The average annual TN loadings (ANL) were estimated to be 1,640.8 kg N km−2 year−1 in the agricultural watersheds, 63.3–86.1 % of which was composed of dissolved inorganic N (DIN; comprising NO3 −–N and NH4 +–N). The watershed with intensive livestock production (i.e., the maximum livestock density of 2.66 animal units (AU) ha−1) exhibited the highest ANL (2,928.7 kg N km−2 year−1) related to N loss with effluent discharge. The results of correlation and principle component analysis suggest that livestock production was the dominant influencing factor for the TN and NH4 +–N loadings and that the percentages of cropland in watersheds can significantly increase the NO3 −–N loading in agricultural watersheds. Therefore, to restore and maintain water quality, animal production regulations and more careful planning of land use are necessary in the agricultural watersheds of subtropical China.

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Abbreviations

DIN:

Dissolved inorganic nitrogen

LD:

Livestock density

NH4 + :

Ammonium nitrogen

NO3 − :

Nitrate nitrogen

PN:

Particulate nitrogen

RD:

Runoff depth

TN:

Total nitrogen

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Science and Technology Pillar Program (2012BAD14B17), the National Science Fund of China (41171396), and the Creative Research Teams Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-T07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Changsha Research Station for Agricultural and Environmental Monitoring, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644 The Second Yuanda Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410125, China

    Yuyuan Li, Junxia Jiao, Yi Wang, Wen Yang, Cen Meng, Baozhen Li, Yong Li & Jinshui Wu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 10049, China

    Junxia Jiao & Cen Meng

  3. College of Resources and Environmental Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, 410125, China

    Wen Yang

  4. Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Regions, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644 The Second Yuanda Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410125, China

    Yuyuan Li, Junxia Jiao, Yi Wang, Wen Yang, Cen Meng, Baozhen Li, Yong Li & Jinshui Wu

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  1. Yuyuan Li
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  2. Junxia Jiao
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Correspondence to Yuyuan Li.

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Li, Y., Jiao, J., Wang, Y. et al. Characteristics of nitrogen loading and its influencing factors in several typical agricultural watersheds of subtropical China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 1831–1840 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3446-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3446-y

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