The Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer Use at Tea Yards on Water Quality of an Irrigation Reservoir

We found a special irrigation reservoir in which there are no algae, insects, or fish. Therefore, we have surveyed the water quality of an irrigation reservoir to find the reason for no living creatures. As the results of the survey, we found three factors such as high nitrate concentration, high aluminum concentration, and low pH value which will affect the lives of creatures in this irrigation reservoir. Among these three factors, the most important one is low pH in this irrigation reservoir. This low pH of the irrigation reservoir is derived from the overuse of nitrogen fertilizer at tea yards. About 1,000kg · ha-1 · y-1 of nitrogen fertilizer has been used to the tea yards for a long time. The remained nitrogen fertilizer which was not taken up by tea crop infiltrates through soils and enters into the ground water. This causes an over the Cation Exchange Capacity of soil and high aluminum concentration of this irrigation reservoir. To prevent this phenomenon from occurring, dozing lime under the root zone and reducing use of nitrogen fertilizer might be effective.