article · Sustainability
Agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability depend heavily on managing water runoff, soil erosion, and nutrient loss. Using a rotating disc rainfall simulator, experimental trials evaluated how different slope gradients, rainfall intensities, and soil textures affect water infiltration, soil erosion, and nitrogen leaching across three common nitrogen fertilisers: urea, calcium cyanamide, and limestone ammonium nitrate. Steeper slopes and heavier rainfall significantly reduced water infiltration while increasing runoff and soil loss. In addition, the choice of fertiliser directly influenced the proportion of nitrogen lost through leaching. Urea produced the highest rates of nitrogen leaching across sandy loam, silt loam, and clay loam soils, followed closely by limestone ammonium nitrate. Conversely, calcium cyanamide consistently demonstrated the lowest nitrogen leaching across all tested soil types. These findings demonstrate that fertiliser selection and field topography interact directly during heavy rainfall events.
When heavy rain hits agricultural land, fertilisers can wash away instead of nourishing crops, leading to wasted input costs and environmental pollution. Understanding how field slope, rainfall intensity, and fertiliser chemistry interact allows land managers to choose inputs that stay in the soil, protecting freshwater ecosystems and improving nutrient efficiency in vulnerable landscapes.
This research provides applied comparative data that fertiliser manufacturers, agronomists, and farm advisers can use to formulate precision nutrient management plans. The work is applied research tested under simulated field conditions. It offers immediate guidance for input selection based on topography and regional rainfall risks, though commercial adoption relies on farm-level integration rather than a proprietary standalone product.
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The combined effects of slope gradient, rainfall intensity, and nitrogen fertilizer source on infiltration, runoff, soil loss, and nitrogen (N) leaching in agricultural areas are not thoroughly understood, despite their critical importance in sustainable agriculture. Previous studies have focused on these factors individually, leaving a significant gap in knowledge regarding their synergistic impact. Investigating the interplay between slope gradients, rainfall intensities, and N fertilizer sources is vital to developing effective soil and water conservation strategies and implementing sustainable agricultural practices. This study is comprised of two experiments. Experiment 1 was designed as a 3 × 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, incorporating three levels of rainfall intensity (RI) (45, 70, and 100 mm/h), two slope gradients (5 and 8°), and three soil types (sandy loam, silt loam, and clay loam), aimed at assessing runoff, infiltration, and soil loss. Experiment 2, laid out as 3 × 2 × 3 × 3 factorial, expanded on this, adding N fertilizer source (urea, CaCN2, and limestone ammonium nitrate (LAN) at 130 kg/ha N) and assessing N leaching alongside the previous metrics. Both experiments used a rotating disc rainfall simulator and were replicated four times. Results revealed that steeper slopes (8°) led to increased runoff and soil loss, impeding infiltration, while gentler slopes (5°) facilitated greater infiltration and minimized soil loss. Rainfall intensity played a significant role, with 70 mm/h/5° combinations promoting higher infiltration rates (48.14 mm/h) and 100 mm/h/8° resulting in lower rates (37.07 mm/h for sandy loam and silt loam, 26.09 mm/h for clay loam). Nitrogen leaching varied based on N source; urea at 130 kg/ha N led to higher losses (7.2% in sandy loam, 6.9% in silt loam, 6.5% in clay loam), followed by LAN (6.9% in sandy loam, 6.7% in silt loam, 6.3% in clay loam) while CaCN2 at the same rate resulted in lower N losses (6.4% in sandy soil, 4.4% in silt loam, 4.2% in clay soil). This research highlights the critical need to consider both slope gradient and rainfall intensity in conjunction with appropriate nitrogen fertilizer sources when developing strategies to mitigate soil erosion and nutrient loss in agricultural settings.
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DOI: 10.3390/su16114477
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