Optimizing nitrogen management reduces mineral nitrogen leaching loss mainly by decreasing water leakage in vegetable fields under plastic-shed greenhouse

Excessive fertilization leads to high nitrogen (N) leaching under intensive plastic-shed vegetable production systems, and thereby results in the contaminations of ground or surface water. Therefore, it is urgent to develop cost-effective strategies of nitrogen management to overcome these obstacles. A 15-year experiment in annual double-cropping systems was conducted to explore impacts of N application rate and straw amendment on mineral N leaching loss in plastic-shed greenhouse. The results showed that seasonal mineral N leaching was up to 103.4–603.4 kg N ha−1, accounting for 12%–41% of total N input under conventional N fertilization management. However, optimized N application rates by 47% and straw addition obviously decreased mineral N leaching by 4%–86%, while had no negative impacts on N uptake and tomato yields. These large decreases of N leaching loss were mainly due to the reduced leachate amount and followed by N concentration in leachate, which was supported by improved soil water holding capacity after optimizing N application rates and straw addition. On average, 52% of water leachate and 55% of mineral N leaching simultaneously occurred within 40 days after planting, further indicating the dominant role of water leakage in regulating mineral N leaching loss. Moreover, decreasing mineral N leaching was beneficial for reducing leaching loss of base cations. Therefore, optimized N application rates and straw amendment effectively alleviates mineral N leaching losses mainly by controlling the water leakage without yield loss in plastic-shed greenhouse, making this strategy promising and interesting from environmental and economical viewpoints. [Display omitted] •A 15-year experiment was conducted to quantify N leaching loss.•Optimizing nitrogen management reduce mineral N leaching loss by 4%–86%.•More than 50% of water leachate and N leaching simultaneously occurred.•Water leakage is key controlling factor in regulating N leaching.