US EPA

2031255 

Journal Article 

NITRATE MONITORING RESULTS IN AGRICULTURAL CATCHMENTS 

Lagzdins, A; Jansons, V 

2009 

RESEARCH FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2009 

327-331 

WOS:000283713900048 

The paper deals with monitoring results of nitrate nitrogen (No-3(-)-N) run-off in three small agricultural catchments in Latvia (Berze, Mellupite, and Vienziemite) during the period of 1995 - 2007. Continuous flow measurements and water sampling were carried out in two scales - catchment and drainage field. Water quality data was analyzed statistically to identify outliers at various intensity agricultural production systems. The results indicated that with increase of agriculture intensity outlying values are higher and scattered from the rest of the data set thereby the risk of No-3(-)-N leaching is higher. It can be explained by application of different rates of organic and inorganic fertilization. To analyze water discharge data, cumulative distribution was used. The results show that main part of the water discharge is observed from late autumn to spring, whereas in summer period it is low and stable. The dependence of No-3(-)-N concentrations on the discharge is expressed by Spearman's correlation coefficient - at catchment scale it is 0.37 in Vienziemite site, 0.39 - in Berze, and 0.44 in Mellupite. Calculated correlation coefficients are statistically reliable. 

nitrate nitrogen concentration; agricultural catchments; discharge 

Skuja, I