Browsing by Author "CHATTOPADHYAY, SAYAN"
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ThesisItem Open Access Impact of intensive use of nitrogenous fertilizer on nitrate contamination in groundwater, soil and sugarcane quality in Samastipur district of Bihar(DRPCAU, PUSA, 2022) CHATTOPADHYAY, SAYAN; Kumar, AjeetA study was conducted to assess the potential of nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) leaching though soil profile and its contamination in ground water as a function of soil properties and agricultural activities in the sugarcane growing areas of Samastipur district in Bihar where, nitrogenous fertilizers were applied intensively years after years. The effects of heavy nitrogen application on sugarcane quality also estimated. Total 64 soil samples from four different depths (0-30, 30-60, 60-90 and 90-120 cm), 16 sugarcane samples and 24 groundwater samples and 8 surface water samples were collected from 8 selected villages in the study area. The soil samples were analysed for sand, silt, clay, bulk density, pH, EC available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and nitrate- nitrogen (NO3-N) while sugarcane juice were analysed for brix, sucrose, purity and commercial cane sugar and water samples were analysed for pH, EC, NO3- N load and major cations and anions concentration. Data on predominant cropping systems, fertilizer uses were also recorded for the study area. Nitrate content in soil layers below the root zone indicates significant nitrate leaching through soil profile. The NO3 -N content in soil had significant positive correlation with silt content at all the four depths of soil. Nitrate is also positively correlated with EC (r= 0.519* at 30 cm & 0.520* at 120 cm). It had also positive correlation with OC (r=0.505*) and available nitrogen (r= 0.701**) at 30 cm depth of the soils. The negative correlation of brix (%) with N- application rate in soil was highly significant (r = -0.843**). The correlation coefficient between nitrate and sucrose (r = -0.904**) indicates that sucrose concentration in juice is significantly reduced with increasing N- fertilization rate. Similarly, N- application rate was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with purity (%) and CCS (%) and their correlation coefficient values are found to be -0.821** and -0.912**, respectively. The NO3-N load in groundwater samples were low ranging from 1.14 to 4.69 mg L−1 with only 16.7 % of them contained greater than 4.0 mg L−1 well below the 10 mg L−1, the threshold limit fixed by WHO for drinking purpose. The content increased with increasing rate of nitrogenous fertilizer application. The NO3-N load in ground water also decreased with clay content (r=-0.745*) but increased with increasing nitrate content (r= 0.909**) of soils. Results thus indicated that the groundwater of the study area is presently safe for drinking purpose but some anthropogenic activities associated with intensive cultivation had a positive influence on its loading with NO3-N.