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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2015, Vol. 14 Issue (12): 2434-2445    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(15)61231-X
Special Focus: Best Soil Management from Long-Term Field Experiments for Sustainable Agriculture Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Simulation of water and nitrogen dynamics as affected by drip fertigation strategies
 ZHANG Jian-jun, LI Jiu-sheng, ZHAO Bing-qiang, LI Yan-ting
1、Institute of Agricultural Resource and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 10081, P.R.China
2、State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, P.R.China
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摘要  The aim of drip fertigation is synchronising the application of water and nutrients with crop requirements, and maintaining the proper concentration and distribution of nutrient and water in the soil. The wetting patterns and nutrient distributions under drip fertigation have been proved to be closely related to the fertigation strategies. In order to find out the critical factors that affect the nutrient distribution under different drip fertigaiton strategies, a computer simulation model HYDRUS2D/3D was used to simulate the water and nitrate distribution for various fertigation strategies from a surface point source. Simulation results were compared with the observed ones from our previous studies. A 15° wedge-shaped plexiglass container was used in our experiment to represent one-twenty-fourth of the complete cylinder. The height of container is 40 cm, and the radius is 41 cm. The ammonium nitrate solution was added through a no. 7 needle connected to a Mariotte tube with a flexible hose. The soil water content, nitrate and ammonium concentrations were measured. The comparison of simulated and observed data demonstrated that the model performed reliably. The numerical analysis for various fertigation strategies from a surface point source showed that: (1) The total amount of irrigation water, the concentration of the fertilizer solution and the amount of pure water used to flush the pipeline after fertilizer solution application are the three critical factors influencing the distribution of water and fertilizer nitrogen in the soil. (2) The fresh water irrigation duration prior to fertigation has no obvious effect on nitrate distribution. The longer flushing time period after fertigation resulted in nitrate accumulation closer to the wetting front. From the point of avoiding the possibility of nitrate loss from the root zone, we recommended that the flushing time period should be as shorter as possible. (3) For a given amount of fertilizer, higher concentration of the fertilizer applied solution reduces the potential of nitrate leaching in drip irrigation system. While, lower concentration of the fertilizer solution resulted in an uniform distribution of nitrate band closer to the wetted front.

Abstract  The aim of drip fertigation is synchronising the application of water and nutrients with crop requirements, and maintaining the proper concentration and distribution of nutrient and water in the soil. The wetting patterns and nutrient distributions under drip fertigation have been proved to be closely related to the fertigation strategies. In order to find out the critical factors that affect the nutrient distribution under different drip fertigaiton strategies, a computer simulation model HYDRUS2D/3D was used to simulate the water and nitrate distribution for various fertigation strategies from a surface point source. Simulation results were compared with the observed ones from our previous studies. A 15° wedge-shaped plexiglass container was used in our experiment to represent one-twenty-fourth of the complete cylinder. The height of container is 40 cm, and the radius is 41 cm. The ammonium nitrate solution was added through a no. 7 needle connected to a Mariotte tube with a flexible hose. The soil water content, nitrate and ammonium concentrations were measured. The comparison of simulated and observed data demonstrated that the model performed reliably. The numerical analysis for various fertigation strategies from a surface point source showed that: (1) The total amount of irrigation water, the concentration of the fertilizer solution and the amount of pure water used to flush the pipeline after fertilizer solution application are the three critical factors influencing the distribution of water and fertilizer nitrogen in the soil. (2) The fresh water irrigation duration prior to fertigation has no obvious effect on nitrate distribution. The longer flushing time period after fertigation resulted in nitrate accumulation closer to the wetting front. From the point of avoiding the possibility of nitrate loss from the root zone, we recommended that the flushing time period should be as shorter as possible. (3) For a given amount of fertilizer, higher concentration of the fertilizer applied solution reduces the potential of nitrate leaching in drip irrigation system. While, lower concentration of the fertilizer solution resulted in an uniform distribution of nitrate band closer to the wetted front.
Keywords:  fertigation       strategy       drip irrigation       modelling       nitrate transport  
Received: 21 August 2015   Accepted:
Fund: 

This work was financially supported by the Non-Profit National Research Institute, Ministry of Finance of China (IARRP-2012-202-3) and the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest, China (201203077-04-05).

Corresponding Authors:  LIJiu-sheng, Tel: +86-10-68786545, E-mail: lijs@iwhr.com;ZHAO Bing-qiang, Tel: +86-10-82108664, E- mail: zhaobingqiang@caas.cn     E-mail:  lijs@iwhr.com;zhaobingqiang@caas.cn
About author:  ZHANG Jian-jun, Mobile: +86-15801181005, Tel: +86-10-82108664, E-mail: zhangjianjun@caas.cn;

Cite this article: 

ZHANG Jian-jun, LI Jiu-sheng, ZHAO Bing-qiang, LI Yan-ting. 2015. Simulation of water and nitrogen dynamics as affected by drip fertigation strategies. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14(12): 2434-2445.

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