Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 3
EVALUATION OF POST-HARVEST
ORGANIC CARBON AMENDMENTS
AS A STRATEGY TO MINIMIZE
NITROGEN LOSSES IN COLE CROP
PRODUCTION
KATELYN A. CONGREVES, RICHARD J. VYN,
AND
LAURA L. VAN EERD
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Nitrogen fertilizer applications are frequently used to enhance vegetable
crop production, and much research has been done to reduce N losses
during the vegetable crop growing season [1,2]. However, after harvest,
a large quantity of N can remain in vegetable crop residues [2-4], which
readily mineralizes [3] and may be susceptible to post-harvest losses.
There is need to minimize N losses during the post-harvest season when
the risk of losses is much greater due to the annual water budget in On-
tario [5] and elsewhere. Losses include nitrate (NO
3
-
-N) leaching and de-
nitrification, which can have negative environmental consequences such
as groundwater and atmosphere contamination. Thus, the development of
