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Nitrate leaching from sheep-grazed upland pastures in Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

S. P. Cuttle ,
M. Hallard ,
E. K. Gill  and
R. V. Scurlock
S. P. Cuttle
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
M. Hallard
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
E. K. Gill
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
R. V. Scurlock
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
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Summary

Ceramic cup samplers were used to measure nitrate leaching from grass/clover pasture in Wales to which no N fertilizer had been applied and from a predominantly grass pasture receiving 100 kg fertilizer-N/ha annually. Annual leaching losses at individual sampling points, measured over a 3-year period between 1988 and 1991, ranged from the equivalent of < 0·1 to 226 kg N/ha. All data sets were positively skewed and in four out of six cases conformed to a log-normal distribution. The marked spatial heterogeneity was attributed to the uneven deposition of N in the excreta of grazing stock but variations in soil depth and hydrology may also have contributed. Particularly large losses occurred from those areas of the plots where sheep congregated. As a result of this heterogeneity, there were large standard errors associated with estimates of mean losses from the pastures as a whole. Overall losses ranged from 13 to 24 kg N/ha per year from grass/clover plots and from 10 to 13 kg/ha from fertilized grass plots. There was no consistent relationship between relative losses from the two types of pasture. The quantity of nitrate leached appeared to be independent of stocking rate, although there was a direct correspondence between the loss from grass/clover plots and the proportion of clover in the sward. Estimates of nitrate concentrations in drainage never exceeded 5·6 mg N/I for either sward.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 127 , Issue 3 , November 1996 , pp. 365 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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