Impact of excreted nitrogen by grazing cattle on nitrate leaching

Abstract. At De Marke experimental farm, data on water and nitrogen flows in the unsaturated zone were gathered on two grazed pastures on sandy soils during the years 1991 to 1994. These provided a basis for calibration and validation of simulation models. The different levels of nitrate-N concentrations of the two plots could largely be explained by differences in crop uptake and simulated denitrification as influenced by different groundwater levels. The irregular distribution of excreta was taken into account by a simulation study quantifying the variability of nitrate-N concentrations under a grazed field. The resulting distribution of simulated nitrate-N concentrations explained the average and peak values of the measured concentrations. Temporal variability of weather was used to assess the nitrate leaching risk under urine patches deposited in either July or September. At site A the probability of exceeding the EC-directive by drinking water (11.3 mg/1 nitrate-N) under a urination deposited in either July or September was respectively 10 and 25%. The average field concentration at this site will hardly ever be a high risk for the environment under the current farm management. At site B the EC-directive will be exceeded under any urine patch in almost 100% of the years, affecting the field average concentration. In field B careful grazing management would result in less nitrate leaching, but the environmental goals would not be reached.