Pedosphere Research, vol. 3, 2023, no. 1: 17 – 29
Short communication
THE IMPACT OF CURRENT AGRICULTURAL LAND MANAGEMENT ON GROUNDWATER POLLUTION BY NITROGEN IN THE CONDITIONS OF CHERNOZEM ON PODUNAJSKÁ LOWLAND
Vladimír Píš, Milan Kališ, Jozef Takáč, Zuzana Bezáková
Národné poľnohospodárske a potravinárske centrum – Výskumný ústav pôdoznalectva a ochrany pôdy
National Agricultural and Food Centre – Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Corresponding author: Mgr. Milan Kališ, PhD., Národné poľnohospodárske a potravinárske centrum – Výskumný ústav pôdoznalectva a ochrany pôdy, Trenčianska 55, 821 09 Bratislava, Slovakia, e-mail: milan.kalis@nppc.sk
Citation: Píš, V., Kališ, M., Takáč, J., Bezáková, Z. (2023). The impact of current agricultural land management on groundwater pollution by nitrogen in the conditions of Chernozem on Podunajská lowland. Pedosphere Research, vol. 3, 2023, no. 1, pp. 17–29. NPPC – VÚPOP 2023. ISSN 2729-8728.
https://doi.org/10.64122/j.pedosres.2023.03.02
Abstract
In the locality of Maslovce (Dunajská Streda county) on the Podunajská nížina (lowland), the conditions of nitrate fertilizers application in the soil environment were tested. In a two-year field experiment in 2020 and 2021, several types of fertilizers were applied to several agricultural crops. The tested soil was high-quality Mollic Chernozem on fluvial sediments. The samples were taken from the soil profile, from three soil layers: 0 – 0.30 m; 0.30 – 0.60 m; and 0.60 – 0.90 m at two-week intervals. The problem was solved in relation to the threat to the underground water level by nitrates in different meteorological periods as well as in the acceptance of ongoing climate change. The DAISY model can simulate crop growth, water regime, heat regime, organic matter balance and nitrogen dynamics in various agricultural soils based on information about the method of land management and weather data. Based on the data obtained from the field survey and laboratory measurements (Maslovce location), the movement of nitrogen through the soil profile of several soil horizons related to the given climatic conditions was determined. As a result, it can be concluded that even in the most risky period of the year, when the highest penetration of nitrogen through the soil profile is assumed, nitrates did not penetrate deeper into the profile by more than 40 – 50 cm, which, given the depth of the groundwater level and the depth of the root system in the case of conventional agricultural techniques of cultivated crops does not endanger groundwater with nitrates. The problem is therefore not in the level of the soil environment, but in the external manifestations of influences related to municipal sewerage, or with the possible residual influence of the use of fertilizers containing nitrogen in previous periods.
Keywords: nitrates, Nitrate Directive, Danube lowland, agricultural plants