Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the loading of nutrients of agricultural origin. We investigated monthly nutrient concentrations at 11 stations located in the Hii River, Japan. The nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios in nitrate were applied to distinguish the origin of nitrogen, i.e., from fertilizers applied to paddy fields or from sewage. Although total nitrogen (TN), presumably from transboundary air pollution, was mainly loaded during the cooler season, nitrate originating from fertilizers applied to paddy fields became the main source of nitrogen in the river water during the warmer season. Phosphorus was mainly added in particulate form, and showed increased loading at the upstream stations in the warmer season, but not in the cooler season. Potassium and magnesium—components of fertilizers—showed an increasing trend in the downstream section of the paddy fields. Our results suggest that controlled application of fertilizers is necessary to decrease the nitrogen loads originating from farmlands, particularly from paddy fields. Since the nitrogen isotope of TN in fertilizer showed significantly lower values (mean value −4.6 ‰) than that in river water (mean value 1.8 ‰) or treated water (mean value 21.9 ‰), we could use these values to determine the contribution of TN from fertilizers to river water quality, and can use them to monitor fertilization levels in watersheds.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bendschneider K, Robinson RJ (1952) A new spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrite in sea water. J Mar Res 11:87–96
Bronson KF, Neue HU, Singh U, Abao EB (1997) Automated chamber measurements of methane and nitrous oxide flux in a flooded rice soil. 1. Residue, nitrogen, and water management. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61:981–987
Casciotti KL, Sigman DM, Hastings MG, Böhlke JK, Hilkert A (2002) Measurement of the oxygen isotopic composition of nitrate in seawater and freshwater using the denitrifier method. Anal Chem 74:4905–4912
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2012) World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2010. http://www.fao.org/economic/the-statistics-division-ess/world-census-of-agriculture/world-programme-for-the-census-of-agriculture-2010/en/. Accessed 10 Apr 2016
Hayakawa A, Woli KP, Shimizu M, Nomaru K, Kuromachi K, Hatano R (2009) Nitrogen budget and relationships with riverine nitrogen exports of a dairy cattle farming catchment in eastern Hokkaido, Japan. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 55:800–819
Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (2014) Components of fertilizers and their characteristics. http://agri.i-yume.ne.jp/site/page/agri/calender/rise/application/. Accessed 10 Apr 2016
Japan Agriculture Unnan (2014) Rice cultivation calendar (FY 2014), p 27
Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forest, and Fisheries (2012) Reports on Results of 2010 Census of Agriculture and Forestry in Japan: Shimane Prefecture. http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/List.do?bid=000001036120&cycode=0. Accessed 30 July 2016
Japan Ministry of the Environment (2006) Watershed management for the lake water quality, pp 36. http://www.env.go.jp/press/press.php?serial=7355. Accessed 10 Apr 2016
Kendall C (1998) Tracing nitrogen sources and cycling in catchments. In: Kendall C, McDonnell JJ (eds) Isotope tracers in catchment hydrology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 519–576
Klüber HD, Conrad R (1998) Effects of nitrate, nitrite, NO and N2O on methanogenesis and other redox processes in anoxic rice field soil. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 25:301–318
Kuroda H, Kato T, Koshigoe Y, Yaegashi D, Horaguti S, Inubushi K, Yamagishi T, Suwa Y (2010) The improvement of the nitrogen removal capacity in wetlands. Desalination Water Treat 19:146–148
Kyaw KM, Toyota K, Okazaki M, Motobayashi T, Tanaka H (2005) Nitrogen balance in a paddy field planted with whole crop rice (Oryza sativa cv. Kusahonami) during two rice-growing seasons. Biol Fertil Soils 42:72–82
Miyazako T, Tabayashi Y, Ohshiro H, Koyama Y, Nakashima Y, Sato S, Nojiri Y, Kishi M, Fujihara A, Kamiya H (2014) Transboundary nitrogen pollution from continental China to a river that flows into the Sea of Japan. Jpn J Limnol 75:27–34
Pawellek F, Frauenstein F, Veizer J (2002) Hydrochemistry and isotope geochemistry of the upper Danube River. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 66:3839–3853
Scheiner D (1976) Determination of ammonia and Kjeldahl nitrogen by indophenol method. Water Res 10:31–36
Sebilo M, Billen G, Mayer B, Billiou D, Grably M, Garnier J, Mariotti A (2006) Assessing nitrification and denitrification in the Seine River and estuary using chemical and isotopic techniques. Ecosystem 9:564–577
Shimane Prefecture (2014) Report of brackish water lake pollution mechanism elucidation, Shimane, p 59 http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/shinjiko_nakaumi/mekanizumu-WG/mekanizumu_wg.data/WG_houkokusho.pdf. Accessed 10 Apr 2016
Sigman DM, Casciotti KL, Andreani M, Barford C, Galanter M, Bölhlke JK (2001) A bacterial method for the nitrogen isotopic analysis of nitrate in seawater and freshwater. Anal Chem 73:4145–4153
Sutton MA, Oenema O, Erisman JW, Leip A, van Grinsven H, Winiwarter W (2011) Too much of a good thing. Nature 472:159–161
The Nippon Agricultural Research Institute (2002) Reducing leak of nitrogen from arable land, p 29 http://www.maff.go.jp/j/seisan/kankyo/hozen_type/pdf/h1403_noukoti.pdf. Accessed 10 Apr 2016
Wither PJ, Jarvie HP (2008) Delivery and cycling of phosphorus in rivers: a review. Sci Total Environ 400:379–395
Woli KP, Hayakawa A, Kuramochi K, Hatano R (2008) Assessment of river water quality during snowmelt and base flow periods in two catchment areas with different land use. Environ Monit Assess 137:251–260
Wood ED, Armstrong FAJ, Richards FA (1967) Determination of nitrate in seawater by cadmium–copper reduction to nitrite. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 47:23
Yoshida T, Yanagisawa S, Hori J, Watanabe T (2010) Stream water purifying function and recharging function of rice paddy water. Nagano Prefecture environment protection institution report 6:1–7
Acknowledgments
Analysis of stable isotope ratios in nitrate was performed under the guidance of Dr Muneoki Yoh and Dr Keisuke Koba at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Ms. Misato Hironaka of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at the University of Tokyo assisted with data collection. Funding for the research was provided by the River Technology Research and Development System, Regional Issues Field (River Ecosystems), Framework for Sustainable Brackish Lake Ecosystems through Mutual Interaction with People. All the experiments comply with the current laws of Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tabayashi, Y., Miki, K., Godo, T. et al. Multi-tracer identification of nutrient origin in the Hii River watershed, Japan. Landscape Ecol Eng 13, 119–129 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-016-0307-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-016-0307-5