Reducing N losses through surface runoff from rice-wheat rotation by improving fertilizer management

To better understand N runoff losses from rice-wheat rotation and demonstrate the effectiveness of improved fertilizer management in reducing N runoff losses, a field study was conducted for three consecutive rice-wheat rotations. Nitrogen losses through surface runoff were measured for five treatments, including CK without N application, C200, C300 simulating the conventional practices, CO200, and CO300. Optimum N rate was applied for C200 and CO200, and 30% of chemical fertilizer was substituted with organic fertilizer for CO200 and CO300 with respect to C200 and C300, respectively. Rice season had higher runoff coefficients than wheat season. Approximately 52% of total N was lost as NH4 +-N in rice season, ranging from 21 to 83%, and in wheat season, the proportion of NO3 −-N in total N averaged 53% with a variation from 38 to 67%. The N treatments lost less total N in rice season (1.67–10.7 kg N ha−1) than in wheat season (1.72–17.1 kg N ha−1). These suggested that a key to controlling N runoff losses from rice-wheat rotation was to limit NO3 −-N accumulation in wheat season. In both seasons, N runoff losses for C200 and CO300 were lower than those for C300. CO200 better cut N losses than C200 and CO300, with 64 and 57% less N in rice and wheat seasons than C300, respectively. Compared with the conventional practices, optimum N inputs integrated with co-application of organic and chemical fertilizers could reduce N runoff losses with a better N balance under rice-wheat rotation.