Tracking nitrogen losses in a greenhouse crop rotation experiment in North China using the EU-Rotate_N simulation model.
Vegetable production in China is associated with high inputs of nitrogen, posing a risk of losses to the environment. Organic matter mineralisation is a considerable source of nitrogen (N) which is hard to quantify. In a two-year greenhouse cucumber experiment with different N treatments in North China, non-observed pathways of the N cycle were estimated using the EU-Rotate_N simulation model. EU-Rotate_N was calibrated against crop dry matter and soil moisture data to predict crop N uptake, soil mineral N contents, N mineralisation and N loss. Crop N uptake (Modelling Efficiencies (ME) between 0.80 and 0.92) and soil mineral N contents in different soil layers (ME between 0.24 and 0.74) were satisfactorily simulated by the model for all N treatments except for the traditional N management. The model predicted high N mineralisation rates and N leaching losses, suggesting that previously published estimates of N leaching for these production systems strongly underestimated the mineralisation of N from organic matter.
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222 Tianshui Nanlu, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China.
Ruiying
R
Guo
Claas
C
Nendel
Clive
C
Rahn
Chunguang
C
Jiang
Qing
Q
Chen
D002681:China; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development*; D018553:Cucumis sativus / Q000254:growth & development; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D051639:Gardening / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards
D005308:Fertilizers; D012987:Soil; D009584:Nitrogen