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Title: PREDICTING THE EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE: NITRATE

Author
item Ma, Liwang
item Malone, Robert - Rob
item Ahuja, Lajpat
item KANWAR, R - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Meetings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/14/2002
Publication Date: 11/14/2002
Citation: MA, L., MALONE, R.W., AHUJA, L.R., KANWAR, R.S. PREDICTING THE EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE: NITRATE. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGRONOMY MEETINGS. 2002. CD-ROM. MADISON, WI.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Much of the nitrate in surface waters within the Midwest Cornbelt is from subsurface field drainage. Simulation models are tools that can estimate nitrate reduction from BMP's implemented on tile-drained fields. Quantifying nitrate reduction using models may accelerate adoption of BMP's and deepen our understanding of the processes driving water quality improvements. A first step toward using models for these purposes is to assess the model and proposed agricultural systems using a long-term and complete data set. This presentation investigates nitrate transport from the Nashua, IA research farm using the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM). Observed data included 10 years of tile flow, chemical concentrations in soil and tile flow, and crop growth from 36 one-acre plots under several different agricultural practices and soil types. Modeling results indicate that RZWQM simulates variation in nitrate transport well compared to observed data, and shows promise in quantifying nitrate in tile flow under different climate (year to year), soil, and management conditions.