Reliable water quality models are needed to forecast the water quality consequences of different agricultural nutrient management scenarios. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), version 2000, was applied to simulate streamflow, riverine nitrate (NO(3)) export, crop yield, and watershed nitrogen (N) budgets in the upper Embarras River (UER) watershed in east-central Illinois...

Fertilizer application control in reason is the key technology to improve operation quality, reduce fertilizer pollution, and cut down costs of production. A control system of variable rate fertilizer is developed based on microcontroller chip in the paper. The system can automatically control flow dosage by adjusting feed gate opening size and changing hydraulic motor speed of fertilizer conve...

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has played a key role in enhancing food production and keeping half of the world's population adequately fed. However, decades of N fertilizer overuse in many parts of the world have contributed to soil, water, and air pollution; reducing excessive N losses and emissions is a central environmental challenge in the 21st century. China's participation is essentia...

Field plot experiments were conducted over 3 years (from April 2014 to November 2016) in a double-rice (Oryza sativa L.) cropping system in subtropical China to evaluate the effects of N fertilizer placement on grain yield and N recovery efficiency (NRE). Different N application methods included: no N application (CK); N broadcast application (NBP); N and NPK deep placement (NDP and NPKDP, resp...

Laboratory, greenhouse, and field experiments were conducted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in the 2010/2011 and 2011∖2012 seasons to study the effects of eight strains of diazotrophic bacteria on the growth and yield of maize. Maize seeds were treated with Bacillus megaterium (V16), Pseudomonas sp. (StB5, A3, A6, and A61), Burkholderia ambifaria (V9), Entero...

The use of pelletized poultry litter (PPL) as a substitute for inorganic fertilizers is increasingly being encouraged in states like Delaware which have a considerable surplus of poultry litter. However, we know very little about the impacts of PPL on runoff water quality and whether it is an environmentally-sound and sustainable alternative to inorganic fertilizer. To address these questions w...

With the goal of improving N fertilizer management to maximize soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and minimize N losses in high-intensity cropping system, a 6-years greenhouse vegetable experiment was conducted from 2004 to 2010 in Shouguang, northern China. Treatment tested the effects of organic manure and N fertilizer on SOC, total N (TN) pool and annual apparent N losses. The results demonst...

The application of crop residues combined with Nitrogen (N) fertilizer has been broadly adopted in China. Crop residue amendments can provide readily available C and N, as well as other nutrients to agricultural soils, but also intensify the N fixation, further affecting N2O emissions. N2O pulses are obviously driven by rainfall, irrigation and fertilization. Fertilization before rainfall or fo...