Cover crop effects on nitrogen load in tile drainage from Walnut Creek Iowa using root zone water quality (RZWQ) model

Studies quantifying winter annual cover crop effects on water quality are mostly limited to short-term studies at the plot scale. Long-term studies scaling-up water quality effects of cover crops to the watershed scale provide more integrated spatial responses from the landscape. The objective of this research was to quantify N loads from artificial subsurface drainage (tile drains) in a subbasin of the Walnut Creek, Iowa (Story county) watershed using the hybrid RZWQ-DSSAT model for a maize (Zea mays L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and maize–maize–soybean rotations in all phases with and without a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cover crop during a 25-year period from 1981 to 2005. Simulated cover crop dry matter (DM) and N uptake averaged 1854 and 36 kg ha−1 in the spring in the maize–soybean phase of the 2-year rotation and 1895 and 36 kg ha−1 in the soybean–maize phase during 1981–2005. In the 3-year rotation, cover crop DM and N uptake averaged 2047 and 44 kg ha−1 in the maize–maize–soybean phase, 2039 and 43 kg ha−1 in the soybean–maize–maize phase, and 1963 and 43 kg ha−1 in the maize–soybean–maize phase during the same period. Annual N loads to tile drains averaged 29 kg ha−1 in the maize–soybean phase and 25 kg ha−1 in the soybean–maize phase compared to 21 and 20 kg ha−1 in the same phases with a cover crop. In the 3-year rotation, annual N loads averaged 46, 43, and 45 kg ha−1 in each phase of the rotation without a cover crop and 37, 35, and 35 kg ha−1 with a cover crop. These results indicate using a winter annual cover crop can reduce annual N loads to tile drains 20–28% in the 2-year rotation and 19–22% in the 3-year rotation at the watershed subbasin scale over a 25-year period.