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Winter rye as a cover crop reduces nitrate loss to subsurface drainage as simulated by HERMES

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  • Malone, R.W.
  • Kersebaum, K.C.
  • Kaspar, T.C.
  • Ma, L.
  • Jaynes, D.B.
  • Gillette, K.

Abstract

HERMES is a widely used agricultural system model; however, it has never been tested for simulating N loss to subsurface drainage. Here, we integrated a simple drain flow component into HERMES. We then compared the predictions to four years of data (2002–2005) from central Iowa fields in corn-oybean with winter rye as a cover crop (CC) and without winter rye (NCC). We also compared the HERMES predictions to the more complex Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) predictions for the same dataset. The average annual observed and simulated N loss to drain flow were 43.8 and 44.4kgN/ha (NCC) and 17.6 and 18.9kgN/ha (CC). The slightly over predicted N loss for CC was because of over predicted nitrate concentration, which may be partly caused by slightly under predicted average annual rye shoot N (observed and simulated values were 47.8 and 46.0kgN/ha). Also, recent research from the site suggests that the soil field capacity may be greater in CC while we used the same soil parameters for both treatments. A local sensitivity analysis suggests that increased field capacity affects HERMES simulations, which includes reduced drain flow nitrate concentrations, increased denitrification, and reduced drain flow volume. HERMES-simulated cumulative monthly drain flow and annual drain flow were reasonable compared to field data and HERMES performance was comparable to other published drainage model tests. Unlike the RZWQM simulations, however, the modified HERMES did not accurately simulate the year to year variability in nitrate concentration difference between NCC and CC, possibly due in part to the lack of partial mixing and displacement of the soil solution. The results suggest that 1) the relatively simple model HERMES is a promising tool to estimate annual N loss to drain flow under corn-soybean rotations with winter rye as a cover crop and 2) soil field capacity is a critical parameter to investigate to more thoroughly understand and appropriately model denitrification and N losses to subsurface drainage.

Suggested Citation

  • Malone, R.W. & Kersebaum, K.C. & Kaspar, T.C. & Ma, L. & Jaynes, D.B. & Gillette, K., 2017. "Winter rye as a cover crop reduces nitrate loss to subsurface drainage as simulated by HERMES," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 156-169.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:184:y:2017:i:c:p:156-169
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2017.01.016
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    3. Gupta, Rishabh & Bhattarai, Rabin & Coppess, Jonathan W. & Jeong, Hanseok & Ruffatti, Michael & Armstrong, Shalamar D., 2022. "Modeling the impact of winter cover crop on tile drainage and nitrate loss using DSSAT model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    4. Shokrana, Md Sami Bin & Ghane, Ehsan & Abdalaal, Yousef & Nejadhashemi, A. Pouyan, 2023. "Predicting the effect of weir management on the discharge of a controlled drainage system in a changing climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    5. Robert Malone & Jurgen Garbrecht & Phillip Busteed & Jerry Hatfield & Dennis Todey & Jade Gerlitz & Quanxiao Fang & Matthew Sima & Anna Radke & Liwang Ma & Zhiming Qi & Huaiqing Wu & Dan Jaynes & Thom, 2020. "Drainage N Loads Under Climate Change with Winter Rye Cover Crop in a Northern Mississippi River Basin Corn-Soybean Rotation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.

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