Simulation analysis of the preventative effects of planting sweet corn on nitrate leaching in a cherry greenhouse soil.

Introduction: To ensure higher productivity, fertilizers have been excessively applied to the fruit greenhouse soil yearly, thus resulting in the increasing risks of residual nitrate leaching in the North China Plain. Methods: In this study, a water and solute transport HYDRUS-1D model was used to evaluate the effects of using sweet corn as a catch crop on deep water drainage and nitrate leaching in a sweet cherry greenhouse soil. A three-year (2019-2021) field experiment was conducted during the rainfall season from July to September in the post-harvest of sweet cherry, when the plastic cover was removed each year. In the experiment, the five treatments were designed. The three nitrate residue levels denoted by CKR, N1R, and N2R, represented nitrate residue amounts in the soil profile of three nitrogen fertilizer levels(0, 280 and 420kg ha Results: The simulated results have showed that using sweet corn as a catch crop increased the evapotranspiration rate, the upward flux of water and nitrate at a 100 cm soil depth reached a maximum of 1.5 mm d Discussion: Sweet corn as summer catch crop can reduce nitrate leaching in the sweet cherry greenhouses. Our study has provided an effective method to reduce the risk of nitrate leaching for sweet cherry greenhouses in the North China Plain.