Abstract
Groundwater pollution by nitrate leaching from sugarcane fields in Okinawa is recognized as a critical issue. Controlled release fertilizer (CRF) has the potential to reduce N leaching from cropping systems. The study focused on confirming the effectiveness of CRF at balancing sugarcane yield and reducing nitrate leaching from sugarcane fields via a water footprint (WF) approach. A lysimeter study was conducted using four treatments: (i) bare land, (ii) P and K fertilization without N, (iii) urea fertilization, and (iv) CRF application. According to the results, for both plant cane and ratoon, the total sugarcane dry weight obtained for CRF was higher compared to urea application. The cumulative nitrate-N leaching of the plant cane season for all treatments was higher than of the ratoon season. For the total crop cycle (plant cane plus ratoon), heavier nitrate-N leaching was observed in the urea-applied condition than in the CRF-applied condition. For both crop seasons, the total sugarcane WF of the CRF application (plant cane: 192.33 m3/t, ratoon: 190.47 m3/t) was lower than that of the urea application (plant cane: 233.47 m3/t, ratoon: 237.59 m3/t). WF values indicated that the CRF application had a lower impact on the groundwater of the area.
Highlights
The efficiency of nitrogen (N) fertilizer use in sugarcane fields is recorded as considerably low, as about 40–60% of applied N fertilizer is lost from soil via denitrification, volatilization, leaching, and runoff [1]
Would balance the sugarcane yield and reduce the nitrate leaching to GW from sugarcane fields compared to conventional urea application
Our research focused on the water footprint (WF) approach to confirm the effectiveness of Controlled release fertilizer (CRF) at balancing sugarcane yield and reducing nitrate leaching to GW
Summary
The efficiency of nitrogen (N) fertilizer use in sugarcane fields is recorded as considerably low, as about 40–60% of applied N fertilizer (urea) is lost from soil via denitrification, volatilization, leaching, and runoff [1]. This condition is of great concern in tropical and subtropical regions where rainfall is higher than 1200 mm/year [2]. Nitrate movement in soil is influenced by factors affecting soil moisture content such as rainfall, irrigation, and evapotranspiration, as well as the soil properties [7]. Frequent nitrate losses from soils can occur in areas that have sandy or coarse-textured soils which receive heavy rainfall and have excessive irrigation [8]
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