ArticleScientific reports2016
Significant accumulation of nitrate in Chinese semi-humid croplands.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 272 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of irrigation and fertilization management on kiwifruit yield, water use efficiency and quality in China: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Pooled it
- Strategies to mitigate nitrate leaching in vegetable production in China: a meta-analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2020Pooled it
- Nitrate leaching from open-field and greenhouse vegetable systems in China: a meta-analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2018Pooled it
- Transport Matters: The Critical Role of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) in Accelerating Electrochemical Nitrate to Ammonia Conversion.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Effects of Nitrogen Application Strategies on Yield, Nitrogen Uptake and Leaching in Spring Maize Fields in Northwest China.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Groundwater nitrate response to hydrogeological conditions and socioeconomic load in an agriculture dominated area.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Nonlinear threshold responses and spatial heterogeneity of soil organic carbon under contrasting pedoclimatic regimes.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- The trade-off between soil water recovery and nitrate leaching following the orchard-to-cropland conversion in the Chinese Loess Plateau.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Interaction of Biochar Addition and Nitrogen Fertilizers on Wheat Production and Nutrient Status in Soil Profiles.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Organic fertilizer substituting 20% chemical N increases wheat productivity and soil fertility but reduces soil nitrate-N residue in drought-prone regions.Frontiers in plant science · 2024Article
- Anthropogenic N input increases global warming potential by awakening the "sleeping" ancient C in deep critical zones.Science advances · 2023Article
- Improvement of Water and Nitrogen Use Efficiencies by Alternative Cropping Systems Based on a Model Approach.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Effects of nitrogen application on winter wheat growth, water use, and yield under different shallow groundwater depths.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Wheat genomic study for genetic improvement of traits in China.Science China. Life sciences · 2022Review
- Nitrate runoff loss and source apportionment in a typical subtropical agricultural watershed.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Effect of Different Fertilizations on the Plant-Available Nitrogen in Soil Profile (0-100 cm): A Study on Chinese Cabbage.Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Suitable Fertilizer Application Depth Enhances the Efficient Utilization of Key Resources and Improves Crop Productivity in Rainfed Farmland on the Loess Plateau, China.Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Effects of Partial Blackwater Substitution on Soil Potential NI-Trogen Leaching in a Summer Maize Field on the North China Plain.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Examination of the Productivity and Physiological Responses of Maize (Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Characteristics and drivers of daily nitrogen and phosphorus losses from rice-rapeseed rotation systems in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Soil nitrate is important for crop growth, but it can also leach to groundwater causing nitrate contamination, a threat to human health. Here, we report a significant accumulation of soil nitrate in Chinese semi-humid croplands based upon more than 7000 samples from 141 sites collected from 1994 to 2015. In the 0-4 meters depth of soil, total nitrate accumulation reaches 453 ± 39, 749 ± 75, 1191 ± 89, 1269 ± 114, 2155 ± 330 kg N ha(-1) on average in wheat, maize, open-field vegetables (OFV), solar plastic-roofed greenhouse vegetables (GHV) and orchard fields, respectively. Surprisingly, there is also a comparable amount of nitrate accumulated in the vadose-zone deeper than 4 meters. Over-use of N fertilizer (and/or manure) and a declining groundwater table are the major causes for this huge nitrate reservoir in the vadose-zone of semi-humid croplands, where the nitrate cannot be denitrified due to the presence of oxygen and lack of carbon sources. Future climatic change with more extreme rainfall events would increase the risk of accumulated nitrate moving downwards and threatening groundwater nitrate contamination.
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