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Water Movement and Nitrate Leaching in a Nigerian Savanna Soil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

M. J. Jones
M. J. Jones
Affiliation:
Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru, Zaria, Nigeria
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Summary

Changes in soil moisture and nitrate content in the top 75 cm of soil in bare and cropped plots were followed throughout the growing season in a Ferruginous savanna soil. A low leaching efficiency, of 0.38–0.66 cm/cm rainfall, was related to very slow wetting of the subsoil, a phenomenon which could be explained satisfactorily only by assuming that part of the rain passed through the profile relatively quickly in the larger pores. However, losses of fertilizer nitrate to deep drainage by this rapid percolation were only 25% of that applied, at most, the greater part remaining in the top 45 cm of soil for almost the whole growing season, thus explaining why only small responses have been obtained at this site to delayed or split applications of nitrogen.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1976 , pp. 69 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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