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Serra J, Cordovil CM, Marinheiro J, Aguilera E, Lassaletta L, Sanz-Cobena A, Garnier J, Billen G, de Vries W, Dalgaard T, Hutchings N, do Rosário Cameira M. Nitrogen inputs by irrigation is a missing link in the agricultural nitrogen cycle and related policies in Europe. Sci Total Environ 2023; 889:164249. [PMID: 37209724 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Irrigation, one of the 28 agri-environmental indicators defined in the European Common Agricultural Policy, is often neglected in agricultural nitrogen (N) budgets, while it can be a considerable source of N in irrigated agriculture. The annual N input from irrigation water sources (NIrrig) to cropping systems was quantified for Europe for 2000-2010 at a resolution of 10 × 10 km, accounting for crop-specific gross irrigation requirements (GIR) and surface- and groundwater nitrate concentration. GIR were computed for 20 crops, while spatially explicit nitrate concentration in groundwater was derived using a random forest model. We show that although GIR were relatively stable (46-60 km3 yr-1), the Nirrig in Europe increased over the 10-year period (184 to 259 Gg N yr-1), approximately 68 % of which occurred in the Mediterranean region. The main hotspots appeared in areas with both high irrigation requirements and high groundwater nitrate concentration, reaching up to averaged values of 150 kg N ha-1 yr1. These were mainly located in Mediterranean Europe (Greece, Portugal and Spain) and to a lesser extent in Northern Europe (The Netherlands, Sweden and Germany). By not including NIrrig, environmental and agricultural policies are underestimating the real extent of N pollution hotspots in European irrigated systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Serra
- Instituto Superior de Agronomía, DCEB, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal; CEF, Instituto Superior de Agronomía, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - Cláudia MdS Cordovil
- Instituto Superior de Agronomía, DCEB, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal; CEF, Instituto Superior de Agronomía, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Joana Marinheiro
- Instituto Superior de Agronomía, DCEB, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal; CEF, Instituto Superior de Agronomía, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Eduardo Aguilera
- CEICGRAM/ETSIAAB, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid
| | - Luis Lassaletta
- CEICGRAM/ETSIAAB, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid
| | | | | | | | - Wim de Vries
- Environmental Systems Analysis Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Tommy Dalgaard
- Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
| | - Nicholas Hutchings
- Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
| | - Maria do Rosário Cameira
- Instituto Superior de Agronomía, DCEB, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal; LEAF-Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food-Research Center, Associated Laboratory TERRA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal
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