Water and Fertilizer Nitrogen Management to Minimize Nitrate Pollution from a Cropped Soil in Southwestern Quebec,Canada

Nitrate-N (NO₃ ^--N) pollution of water resources is a widely recognized problem. Water and nitrogen fertilizer are the two most important factors affecting NO₃ ^--N movement to surface and groundwater. Field trials were conducted from 1998 to 2000 growing seasons to investigate the combined impacts of water table management (WTM) and N fertilization rate on NO₃ ^--N concentration in the soil profile and in drain discharge. There were two water table treatments: free drainage (FD) with open drains at a 1.0 m depth from the soil surface and subirrigation (SI) with a target water table depth of 0.6 m below the soil surface, and two N fertilizer rates: 120 kg N ha^-1 (N₁₂₀) and 200 kg N ha^-1 (N₂₀₀) in a split-plot design. Compared to FD, SI reducedNO₃ ^--N concentration in the soil by up to 50% averaged over the two N rates. Concentrations of NO₃ ^--N in drainage water fromSI plots were lower than those from FD by 55 to 73%. These findings suggest that SI can be used as a means of reducing soil NO₃ ^--N pollution and drainage water NO₃ ^--N concentrations.