Korean Journal of Agricultural Science ISSN:2466-2402(Print) 2466-2410(Online) 농업과학연구

A large amount of the mineral nitrogen is necessary for crop growth. With the use of nitrogen fertilizers, agricultural yield has increased during the last few decades. However, at the same time, nitrate from the cultivated land can be a source of environmental pollution, especially in water systems. For nitrogen management, it is necessary to analyze the pattern of nitrogen movement in soil. In this study, nitrogen leaching in upland soils was evaluated using undisturbed lysimeters with different soil textures during sesame cultivation. The soil texture of the lysimeters was clay loam (Songjung series) and sandy loam (Sangju series) soils. Sesame was cultivated from May 25 to August 24 in 2020. The standard amount of NPK fertilizer (N-P2O5-K2O = 2.9-3.1-3.2 kg·10 a-1) was applied before sowing. The amount of nitrogen leaching was calculated by multiplying the nitrogen (NO3-N + NH4-N) concentration and the amount of water drained below 1.5 m soil depth. The water was drained through percolation into macropores in the clay loam lysimeter. In contrast, in the sandy loam lysimeter, water drained more slowly than in the clay loam lysimeter. There was a slight difference in the total amount of leachate during the cultivation period, but the amount of nitrogen leaching was high in sandy loam soil. During the sesame cultivation period, the amount of nitrogen leaching from clay soil was 5.64 kg·10 a-1, and 10.70 kg·10 a-1 for sandy soil. We found that there was a difference in leaching depending on the soil physical characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of soil to evaluate the leaching of nitrogen.