Hydrology and Nitrogen Components of a Simple Rye Growth Model
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 2
Abstract
Cover cropping practices are being researched to reduce artificial subsurface drainage nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) losses from agricultural lands in the upper Mississippi watershed. A soil-plant-atmosphere simulation model, RyeGro, was developed to quantify the influence of a winter cereal rye cover crop on nitrate-N losses given climatic variability in the region. This paper describes the hydrology and nitrogen cycle submodels of RyeGro, which was developed with a low level of complexity and conceptualizes the soil profile as three soil layers. The model was calibrated with data from a three-year rye cover crop field study conducted at Lamberton, Minnesota, and validated with data from a previous study. During model calibration, field subsurface drainage nitrate-N loadings were predicted within 0.2, 0, and (1, 0, and ) of measured loadings for the corn-soybean treatment and within 1.2, 0, and (11, 0, and 3%) of measured loadings for the corn-rye-soybean treatment. The model validation showed nitrate-N loading differences of 7 and ( and 4%) for the two years tested.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge financial support for this project from the National Needs Fellowship Program of USDA—CSREES and from the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Thanks are given to the people at the Southwest Research and Outreach Center of the University of Minnesota at Lamberton for providing the data for the study. The writers also acknowledge Dr. David Mulla for his review of the manuscript and helpful suggestions.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 2 • April 2007
Pages: 90 - 99
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 8, 2005
Accepted: Jan 20, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
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