Response of Vertical Migration and Leaching of Nitrogen in Percolation Water of Paddy Fields under Water-Saving Irrigation and Straw Return Conditions

• Published in: Water (Basel) 2019-04, Vol.11 (4), p.868
• Main Authors: Zheng, Chengxin, Zhang, Zhanyu, Wu, Yunyu, Mwiya, Richwell
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural production; Climate change; Comparative analysis; Crop yield; Design; Drought; Environmental aspects; Fertilizers; Flood irrigation; Floods; Growth stage; Irrigation; Irrigation water; Leaching; Measurement; Moisture content; Nitrogen; Nitrogen in the body; Percolation; Rain; Rice; Rice fields; Seasons; Soil water; Soils; Straw; Surface water; Vertical migrations; Water conservation; Water depth; Water pollution; Water scarcity
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w11040868

The use of water-saving irrigation techniques has been encouraged in rice fields in response to irrigation water scarcity. Straw return is an important means of straw reuse. However, the environmental impact of this technology, e.g., nitrogen leaching loss, must be further explored. A two-year (2017–2018) experiment was conducted to investigate the vertical migration and leaching of nitrogen in paddy fields under water-saving and straw return conditions. Treatments included traditional flood irrigation (FI) and two water-saving irrigation regimes: rain-catching and controlled irrigation (RC-CI) and drought planting with straw mulching (DP-SM). RC-CI and DP-SM both significantly decreased the irrigation input compared with FI. RC-CI increased the rice yield by 8.23%~12.26%, while DP-SM decreased it by 8.98%~15.24% compared with FI. NH4+-N was the main form of the nitrogen leaching loss in percolation water, occupying 49.06%~50.97% of TN leaching losses. The NH4+-N and TN concentration showed a decreasing trend from top to bottom in soil water of 0~54 cm depth, while the concentration of NO3−-N presented the opposite behavior. The TN and NH4+-N concentrations in percolation water of RC-CI during most of the rice growth stage were the highest among treatments in both years, and DP-SM showed a trend of decreasing TN and NH4+-N concentrations. The NO3−-N concentrations in percolation water showed a regular pattern of DP-SM > RC-CI > FI during most of the rice growth stage. RC-CI and DP-SM remarkably reduced the amount of N leaching losses compared to FI as a result of the significant decrease of percolation water volumes. The tillering and jointing-booting stages were the two critical periods of N leaching (accounted for 74.85%~86.26% of N leaching losses). Great promotion potential of RC-CI and DP-SM exists in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China, and DP-SM needs to be further optimized.