Modeling Nitrate-Nitrogen Losses in Response to Tile Drain Depth and Spacing in a Cold Climate

Abstract

The Agricultural Drainage and Pesticide Transport (ADAPT) model was used to evaluate the effectsof tile drain spacing and depth on NO3-N losses in southeastern Minnesota. The model was calibrated andvalidated using 4 years of monthly flow and nitrate loss data from two tile drained fields (11 and 9.3 ha) inNicollet County. Half the monitoring data from the 11 ha field were used for calibration and half for validation ofthe model. The model was also validated using independent monitoring data from the 9.3 ha field. For thecalibration period on the 11 ha field, the model predicted mean monthly tile drainage and NO3-N losses of141.5 m3/day and 5.2 kg/ha, respectively, against measured tile drainage (126.2 m3/day) and NO3-N losses(4.5 kg/ha). For validation, the predicted mean monthly tile drainage and NO3-N losses were 131.7 m3/day and4.4 kg/ha, respectively, against measured tile drainage and NO3-N losses of 80.4 m3/day and 3.0 kg/ha,respectively. Similar validation results were found with 9.3 ha field. Long-term simulations were made for awide range of climatic conditions (1954-2003) to evaluate the effects of drain spacing and drain depth on tiledrainage and NO3-N losses. Simulations results indicate that increasing spacing and decreasing depth of tiledrains reduces the tile drainage and NO3-N losses, and can serve as a remedy to the excess NO3-N losses.