IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i2p392-d1590385.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Irrigation on Surface Nitrate Export from Agricultural Fields in the Southeastern United States

Author

Listed:
  • W. Lee Ellenburg

    (Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL 35899, USA)

  • James F. Cruise

    (Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL 35899, USA)

  • Brenda V. Ortiz

    (Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA)

  • Rachel Suhs

    (Department of Atmospheric and Earth Science, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL 35899, USA)

Abstract

Agricultural runoff ranks second only to atmospheric deposition as a source of nitrogen pollution to streams in the southeastern United States. Climate-smart practices such as irrigation have the potential to reduce these impacts and provide resilience in the face of climate change. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of irrigation amounts and fertilizer application strategies on surface nitrate export to surrounding steams. Data from an existing experiment on corn nitrogen fertilization in the Southeastern US was utilized and a crop simulation model was employed to simulate the water and nitrogen dynamics within the soil with particular emphases on nutrient uptake and residual nutrients. left in the soil after harvest under varying fertilization scenarios. A hydrologic and nutrient export model was developed to run in conjunction with the crop model to simulate lateral export from the fields. The results of this study indicate that climate and nutrient management are the dominant factors in determining surface nutrient transport under both rain fed and irrigated conditions, confirming previous studies. The overall results show that irrigation, on average, reduced nutrient export from the surface, especially in dry years. The effect is even greater if the nutrients are applied later in the year while irrigation is on-going. While this present study provides an initial look at the potential impacts of irrigation on nutrient export in humid areas, the available on-farm observational data is limited in its content. However, the results obtained support existing literature and provide further evidence on the impact of irrigation as a climate resilient practice and will help direct future studies in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • W. Lee Ellenburg & James F. Cruise & Brenda V. Ortiz & Rachel Suhs, 2025. "The Impact of Irrigation on Surface Nitrate Export from Agricultural Fields in the Southeastern United States," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:2:p:392-:d:1590385
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/2/392/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/2/392/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allaire-Leung, S. E. & Wu, L. & Mitchell, J. P. & Sanden, B. L., 2001. "Nitrate leaching and soil nitrate content as affected by irrigation uniformity in a carrot field," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 37-50, May.
    2. Sangha, Laljeet & Shortridge, Julie & Frame, William, 2023. "The impact of nitrogen treatment and short-term weather forecast data in irrigation scheduling of corn and cotton on water and nutrient use efficiency in humid climates," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    3. Negm, Lamyaa M. & Youssef, Mohamed A. & Jaynes, Dan B., 2017. "Evaluation of DRAINMOD-DSSAT simulated effects of controlled drainage on crop yield, water balance, and water quality for a corn-soybean cropping system in central Iowa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 57-68.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Youngseok Song & Moojong Park, 2021. "A Study on the Development of Reduction Facilities’ Management Standards for Agricultural Drainage for Disaster Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Feng, Genxiang & Zhu, Chengli & Wu, Qingfeng & Wang, Ce & Zhang, Zhanyu & Mwiya, Richwell Mubita & Zhang, Li, 2021. "Evaluating the impacts of saline water irrigation on soil water-salt and summer maize yield in subsurface drainage condition using coupled HYDRUS and EPIC model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    3. Zhang, Rui & Liu, Yichuan & Zhu, Delan & Wu, Pute & Zhang, Xiaomin, 2024. "Simulating coefficient of soil moisture content uniformity of sprinkler irrigation systems using a COMSOL-3D model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    4. Wang, Hongbo & Li, Guohui & Huang, Weixiong & Li, Zhaoyang & Wang, Xingpeng & Gao, Yang, 2024. "Compensation of cotton yield by nitrogen fertilizer in non-mulched fields with deficit drip irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    5. Wen, Yeqiang & Shang, Songhao & Rahman, Khalil Ur & Xia, Yuhong & Ren, Dongyang, 2020. "A semi-distributed drainage model for monthly drainage water and salinity simulation in a large irrigation district in arid region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    6. Youssef, Mohamed A. & Liu, Yu & Chescheir, George M. & Skaggs, R. Wayne & Negm, Lamyaa M., 2021. "DRAINMOD modeling framework for simulating controlled drainage effect on lateral seepage from artificially drained fields," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    7. Sanchez, I. & Zapata, N. & Faci, J.M., 2010. "Combined effect of technical, meteorological and agronomical factors on solid-set sprinkler irrigation: I. Irrigation performance and soil water recharge in alfalfa and maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(10), pages 1571-1581, October.
    8. Singh, Shailendra & Bhattarai, Rabin & Negm, Lamyaa M. & Youssef, Mohamed A. & Pittelkow, Cameron M., 2020. "Evaluation of nitrogen loss reduction strategies using DRAINMOD-DSSAT in east-central Illinois," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    9. Kurunc, A. & Ersahin, S. & Uz, B. Yetgin & Sonmez, N.K. & Uz, I. & Kaman, H. & Bacalan, G.E. & Emekli, Y., 2011. "Identification of nitrate leaching hot spots in a large area with contrasting soil texture and management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(6), pages 1013-1019, April.
    10. Liang, Hao & Qi, Zhiming & Hu, Kelin & Li, Baoguo & Prasher, Shiv O., 2018. "Modelling subsurface drainage and nitrogen losses from artificially drained cropland using coupled DRAINMOD and WHCNS models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 201-210.
    11. Ghimire, Chandra Prasad & Bradley, Stuart & Ritchie, Willis & Appels, Willemijn M. & Grundy, Laura & Snow, Val, 2022. "Towards quantifying plot-scale overland flow connectivity using acoustic proximal remote sensing," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    12. Dou, Xu & Shi, Haibin & Li, Ruiping & Miao, Qingfeng & Yan, Jianwen & Tian, Feng & Wang, Bo, 2022. "Simulation and evaluation of soil water and salt transport under controlled subsurface drainage using HYDRUS-2D model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    13. Xu Dou & Haibin Shi & Ruiping Li & Qingfeng Miao & Feng Tian & Dandan Yu & Liying Zhou & Bo Wang, 2021. "Effects of Controlled Drainage on the Content Change and Migration of Moisture, Nutrients, and Salts in Soil and the Yield of Oilseed Sunflower in the Hetao Irrigation District," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, September.
    14. Liao, Kaihua & Lv, Ligang & Lai, Xiaoming & Zhu, Qing, 2021. "Toward a framework for the multimodel ensemble prediction of soil nitrogen losses," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 456(C).
    15. Revuelta-Acosta, J.D. & Flanagan, D.C. & Engel, B.A. & King, K.W., 2021. "Improvement of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for quantifying field scale subsurface drainage discharge," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    16. Jouni, Hamidreza Javani & Liaghat, Abdolmajid & Hassanoghli, Alireza & Henk, Ritzema, 2018. "Managing controlled drainage in irrigated farmers’ fields: A case study in the Moghan plain, Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 393-405.
    17. Liu, Jing & Bi, Xiaoqing & Ma, Maoting & Jiang, Lihua & Du, Lianfeng & Li, Shunjiang & Sun, Qinping & Zou, Guoyuan & Liu, Hongbin, 2019. "Precipitation and irrigation dominate soil water leaching in cropland in Northern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 165-171.
    18. Mariusz Sojka & Michał Kozłowski & Rafał Stasik & Michał Napierała & Barbara Kęsicka & Rafał Wróżyński & Joanna Jaskuła & Daniel Liberacki & Jerzy Bykowski, 2019. "Sustainable Water Management in Agriculture—The Impact of Drainage Water Management on Groundwater Table Dynamics and Subsurface Outflow," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Zhou, Lifeng & He, Jianqiang & Qi, Zhijuan & Dyck, Miles & Zou, Yufeng & Zhang, Tibin & Feng, Hao, 2018. "Effects of lateral spacing for drip irrigation and mulching on the distributions of soil water and nitrate, maize yield, and water use efficiency," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 190-200.
    20. Baram, S. & Couvreur, V. & Harter, T. & Read, M. & Brown, P.H. & Hopmans, J.W. & Smart, D.R., 2016. "Assessment of orchard N losses to groundwater with a vadose zone monitoring network," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 83-95.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:2:p:392-:d:1590385. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.