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Research article2005Peer reviewed

Estimating reduction of nitrogen leaching from arable land and the related costs

Larsson MH, Kyllmar K, Jonasson L, Johnsson H

Abstract

The EU Water Framework Directive will require river-basin management plans in order to achieve good ecological status and find the most cost-efficient nitrogen (N) leaching abatement measures. Detailed scenario calculations based on modeling methods will be valuable in this regard. This paper describes the approach and an application with a coefficient method based on the simulation model SOILNDB for quantification of N leaching from arable land and for prediction of the effect of abatement scenarios for the Ronnea catchment (1900 km(2)) in southern Sweden. Cost calculations for the different measures were also performed. The results indicate that the individual measures-cover crop and spring plowing, late termination of ley and fallow, and spring application of manure-would only reduce N leaching by between 5% and 8%. If all measures were combined and winter crops replaced by their corresponding spring variants, a 21% reduction in N leaching would be possible. However, this would require total fulfillment of the suggested measures

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2005, Volume: 34, number: 7, pages: 538-543
Publisher: ROYAL SWEDISH ACAD SCIENCES

      SLU Authors

    • Larsson, Martin

      • Department of Soil Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
      • Kyllmar, Katarina

        • Department of Soil Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
        • Johnsson, Holger

          • Department of Soil Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

        UKÄ Subject classification

        Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
        Fish and Aquacultural Science
        Agricultural Science

        Publication identifier

        DOI: https://doi.org/10.1639/0044-7447(2005)034[0538:ERONLF]2.0.CO;2

        Permanent link to this page (URI)

        https://res.slu.se/id/publ/7239