Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

The objective of this research was to investigate concentration and load of nutrients such as total nitrogen (TN), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) total phosphorous (TP), and phosphate phosphorous (PO₄-P) in a 23.4-ha paddy fields watershed with river water source. Water samples for irrigation water, drainage water, ponded water and groundwater were collected, and irrigation and drainage water were measured at 5∼10 day intervals during normal days and at 2∼6 hours intervals during three storm events. The amount of irrigation water in the study area was over 2,000 mm, which is almost identical to that in the area irrigated from a large reservoir but much more than that in the area irrigated from a pumping station. Mean flow-weighted concentrations of TN and TP in irrigation water were 2.8 and 0.15 mg/L, respectively, higher than those in the area irrigated from a large reservoir or a pumping station. The ratios of irrigation load to total inflow load for TN and TP were 88 %, and the ratios of surface outflow load to total outflow load for TN and TP were over 90 %, indicating that total nutrient load may be greatly affected by water management. The nutrient loads per area in the study area were estimated as TN 21.1 kg/ha and TP 1.1 kg/ha. Especially, the TP load per area in the study area was smaller than that in the area irrigated from a large reservoir or a pumping station. This may be because outflow load is not high likely due to sedimentation of particulate P and irrigation water load is high due to high TP concentration in irrigation water and high amount of irrigation water.