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Factors controlling the long-term temporal and spatial patterns of nitrate-nitrogen export in a dairy farming watershed

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 187, Article number: 206 (2015) Cite this article

Abstract

It is difficult to investigate the factors that control the riverine nitrate-nitrogen (NO3 −-N) export in a watershed which gains or losses groundwater. To control the NO3 −-N contamination in these watersheds, it is necessary to investigate the factors that are related to the export of NO3 −-N that is only produced by the watershed itself. This study was conducted in the Shibetsu watershed located in eastern Hokkaido, Japan, which gains external groundwater contribution (EXT) and 34 % of the annual NO3 −-N loading occurs through EXT. The riverine NO3 −-N exports from 1980 to 2009 were simulated by the SWAT model, and the factors controlling the temporal and spatial patterns of NO3 −-N exports were investigated without considering the EXT. The results show that hydrological events control NO3 −-N export at the seasonal scale, while the hydrological and biogeochemical processes are likely to control NO3 −-N export at the annual scale. There was an integrated effect among the land use, topography, and soil type related to denitrification process, that regulated the spatial patterns of NO3 −-N export. The spatial distribution of NO3 −-N export from hydrologic response units (HRUs) identified the agricultural areas with surplus N that are vulnerable to nitrate contamination. A new standard for the N fertilizer application rate including manure application should be given to control riverine NO3 −-N export. This study demonstrates that applying the SWAT model is an appropriate method to determine the temporal and spatial patterns of NO3 −-N export from the watershed which includes EXT and to identify the crucial pollution areas within a watershed in which the management practices can be improved to more effectively control NO3 −-N export to water bodies.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41201279), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (QN2013076), and the Strategic International Cooperative Program “Comparative Study of Nitrogen Cycling and its Impact on Water Quality in Agricultural Watersheds in Japan and China”.

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Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Room 218, 3# Taicheng Road, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Rui Jiang

  2. Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Rui Jiang

  3. Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan

    Rui Jiang, Chun-ying Wang, Ryusuke Hatano & Kanta Kuramochi

  4. Department of Biological Environment, Akita Prefectural University, Akita, 010-0195, Japan

    Atsushi Hayakawa

  5. Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Krishna P. Woli

Authors
  1. Rui Jiang
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  2. Chun-ying Wang
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  3. Ryusuke Hatano
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  4. Kanta Kuramochi
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  5. Atsushi Hayakawa
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  6. Krishna P. Woli
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Correspondence to Rui Jiang.

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Jiang, R., Wang, Cy., Hatano, R. et al. Factors controlling the long-term temporal and spatial patterns of nitrate-nitrogen export in a dairy farming watershed. Environ Monit Assess 187, 206 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4394-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4394-9

Keywords

  • Nitrate-nitrogen
  • Land use
  • Soil type
  • Denitrification
  • Soil and water assessment tool