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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Soil Processes
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1506113
This article is part of the Research Topic Nitrate from Field to Stream: Characterization and Mitigation View all 9 articles

A Diverse Rotation of Corn-Soybean-Winter Wheat/Double Crop Soybean with Cereal Rye after Corn Reduces Tile Nitrate Loss

Provisionally accepted
Lowell Gentry Lowell Gentry *Corey Mitchell Corey Mitchell John Green John Green Carlos Guacho Carlos Guacho Eric Miller Eric Miller Dan Schaefer Dan Schaefer Annette Echaverry Annette Echaverry Zhongjie Yu Zhongjie Yu
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Artificial drainage via subterranean drainage pipes called tiles transport nitrate from fields to streams, impairing downstream surface waters. Increased crop rotational diversity may conserve nitrogen, support greater system resiliency, and reduce tile nitrate loss. This 9-year study compares tile nitrate loss under a 3-year rotation of corn-soybean-winter wheat/double crop soybean plus cereal rye after corn versus a conventionally managed 2-year corn-soybean rotation. Tile flow and tile nitrate concentration were measured from 2015 through 2023 to determine annual flow weighted mean concentrations and loads of tile nitrate. Cereal rye following corn greatly reduced annual tile nitrate; however, more than 6 Mg ha -1 of above ground biomass may have decreased soybean yield. Winter wheat was efficient at using splitapplied fertilizer nitrogen (N) as annual tile nitrate concentrations were reduced similar to cereal rye. Double crop soybean after winter wheat may be the most productive phase of the rotation; however, an early killing freeze greatly reduced soybean yield and increased tile nitrate loss.Interestingly, the subsequent corn crop may have benefitted from this unexpected N source.Overall, tile nitrate loss was approximately 50% less in the diverse 3-year rotational system, suggesting that a more diverse rotational system is efficient at retaining N, conserving nitrogen in the field, and reducing N loss to surface water. This study demonstrated proof of concept that a more diverse crop rotation can reduce tile nitrate loss from fields to streams, while maintaining crop productivity.Nitrate loss from agricultural fields via subterranean drainage pipes called tiles is a major source of riverine nitrate load in central Illinois (

    Keywords: Tile drainage, nitrate, Diverse crop rotation, cover crop, corn, Soybean, winter wheat, doublecrop soybean

    Received: 04 Oct 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Gentry, Mitchell, Green, Guacho, Miller, Schaefer, Echaverry and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lowell Gentry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.