Oat catch crop efficacy on nitrogen leaching varies after forage crop grazing

Can a Winter-sown Catch Crop Reduce Nitrate Leaching Losses after Winter Forage Grazing?

Direct grazing of winter forage crops to feed non-lactating, pregnant dairy cows prior to calving is a common management practice in the New Zealand South Island. However, the high crop yields per hectare grazed, combined with a high stocking density of cows, means this potentially leads to large amounts of urinary nitrogen (N) deposited on bare, wet soil, that in turn, could lead to high nitra...

Leaching and Sorption of Nitrogen and Phosphorus by Crop Residue

Overland flow from cropland areas often contains nutrients and residue materials can either contribute to runoff nutrient load through leaching or remove nutrients by sorption. Measurements were made of leaching and sorption of nitrogen and phosphorus from corn (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Pastiche) residues placed in solutions conta...

Forage Crop Production

Nitrogen leaching from organic agriculture and conventional crop rotations

A great challenge to science is to elucidate how agriculture can feed the increasing world population without damaging the environment, while preserving other resources such as freshwater. In the Seine basin, characterised by intensive agriculture, most of surface and underground water is contaminated by nitrate. Conventional agriculture has regularly increased the use of industrial fertilisers...

Crop Nitrogen Assessment

Assessment of nitrogen content from crop leaves has been of interest worldwide to help growers adjust N fertilizer rates to meet the demands of the crop. A multi-spectral imaging system was developed for in-field real-time assessment of plant nitrogen stress in corn (Zea mays L.) crops indicated by plant reflectance and measured using a vision-based multi-spectral imaging sensor (MSIS). The obj...