Equations to predict the leaching of nitrate uniformly incorporated to a known depth or uniformly distributed throughout a soil profile

Abstract

SummaryEquations to predict the leaching of nitrate either uniformly incorporated to a known depth or uniformly distributed in field soils can be reduced to the approximate form:where f is the fraction of nitrate leached below h cm in a soil of field capacity Vm (% by volume) after P cm of drainage has passed through the profile. If nitrate is initially incorporated uniformly to a depth of w cm, then x = h – ½w(where h ≥ w); if nitrate is distributed uniformly throughout the whole profile, then x = ½h. For surface-applied nitrate x = h (Burns, 1975).Observed mean displacements in published experiments have been compared with predictions from the equations and from equations in which the mean movement of nitrate and water are assumed equal. The new equations give better agreement with the observed data.