Leaching of dissolved nitrogen and carbon from winter cover crop

The main aim of this study was to examine the combined effects of nitrogen (N) fertilisation during the maize (Zm) cropping and cover crop (CC) inclusions vs Zm- fallow on dissolved inorganic N (DIN), dissolved organic N (DON), total dissolved N (TDN) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaching from a coarse textured soil in Mediterranean Chile.

We found that crop rotation with Zm, optimal N fertilisation (250 kg N ha-1) and a grass CC had significantly lower DIN and TDN loads than all other Zm-fallow treatments due to a combination effect of lower percolation and DIN and TDN concentrations.