Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sediment-associated organic carbon and nitrogen inputs from erosion and irrigation to rice fields in a mountainous watershed in Northwest Vietnam

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Maintaining indigenous nutrient supply and positive nutrient balances are key factors in sustaining rice yields. Irrigation systems act as conveyers for water, sediments and nutrients throughout landscapes, especially in mountainous, cultivated tropical areas where erosivity is usually high. Contributions of erosion and irrigation to the nutrient balance of paddy fields, however, are rarely assessed. In this study, a turbidity-based method was used to quantify sediment-associated organic carbon and nitrogen as well as dissolved nitrogen inputs from erosion and irrigation to a 13 ha rice area in Northwest Vietnam. The irrigation source is a surface reservoir, and both reservoir and irrigation channel are surrounded by permanent upland maize cultivation on the steep slopes. Additionally, organic carbon and nitrogen loads in paddy outflow were determined to obtain nutrient budgets. Irrigation contributed 90 % of sediment-associated organic carbon inputs and virtually all nitrogen inputs. Analysis of ammonium and nitrate in total nitrogen loads showed that 24 % of the total N inputs from irrigation to the rice area, or 0.28 Mg ha−1 a−1, were plant-available. Loads measured at the outlet of rice fields showed that paddies were a trap for sediment-associated nutrients: balancing inputs and outflow, a net load of 1.09 Mg ha−1 a−1 of sediment-associated organic carbon and 0.68 Mg ha−1 a−1 of sediment-associated nitrogen remained in the rice fields. Sediment-associated organic carbon and nitrogen inputs thus form an important contribution to the indigenous nutrient supply of rice in these maize-paddy systems, while the rice fields simultaneously capture nutrients, protecting downstream areas from the effects of land use intensification on surrounding slopes. These results underscore the importance of upland-lowland linkages in tropical, mountainous, erosion-prone areas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ASTM (2013) Standard D3977-97. Standard test methods for determining sediment concentration in water samples. ASTM International, West Conshohocken. doi:10.1520/D3977

    Google Scholar 

  • Berhe AA, Harte J, Harden JW, Torn MS (2007) The significance of the erosion-induced terrestrial carbon sink. Bioscience 57:337–346. doi:10.1641/B570408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beusen AHW, Bouwman AF, Van Beek LPH, Mogollón JM, Middelburg JJ (2016) Global riverine N and P transport to ocean increased during the 20th century despite increased retention along the aquatic continuum. Biogeosciences 13:2441–2451. doi:10.5194/bg-13-2441-2016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JB, Sprague LA, Dupree JA (2011) Nutrient sources and transport in the Missouri River Basin, with emphasis on the effects of irrigation and reservoirs. J Am Water Resour Assoc 47:1034–1060. doi:10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00584.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruun TB, de Neergaard A, Lawrence D, Ziegler AD (2009) Environmental consequences of the demise in swidden cultivation in Southeast Asia: carbon storage and soil quality. Hum Ecol 37:375–388. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9257-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassman KG, Peng S, Olk DC, Ladha JK, Reichardt W, Dobermann A, Singh U (1998) Opportunities for increased nitrogen-use efficiency from improved resource management in irrigated rice systems. Field Crops Res 56:7–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cataldo DA, Haroon M, Schrader LE, Youngs VL (1975) Rapid colorimetric determination of nitrate in plant tissue by nitration of salicylic acid. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 6:71–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chung SW, Ko IH, Kim YK (2008) Effect of reservoir flushing on downstream river water quality. J Environ Manag 86:139–147. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.11.031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemens G, Fiedler S, Cong ND, Van Dung N, Schuler U, Stahr K (2010) Soil fertility affected by land use history, relief position, and parent material under a tropical climate in NW-Vietnam. Catena 81:87–96. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2010.01.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Vente J, Poesen J (2005) Predicting soil erosion and sediment yield at the basin scale: scale issues and semi-quantitative models. Earth Sci Rev 71:95–125. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.02.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dlugoß V, Fiener P, Van Oost K, Schneider K (2012) Model based analysis of lateral and vertical soil carbon fluxes induced by soil redistribution processes in a small agricultural catchment. Earth Surf Proc Land 37:193–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobermann A, White PF (1998) Strategies for nutrient management in irrigated and rainfed lowland rice systems. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 53:1–18. doi:10.1023/A:1009795032575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobermann A, Witt C, Abdulrachman S, Gines HC, Nagarajan R, Son TT, Tan PS, Wang GH, Chien NV, Thoa VTK, Phung CV, Stalin P, Muthukrishnan P, Ravi V, Babu M, Simbahan GC, Adviento MAA (2003) Soil fertility and indigenous nutrient supply in irrigated rice domains of Asia. Agron J 95:913–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doetterl S, Berhe AA, Nadeu E, Wang Z, Sommer M, Fiener P (2016) Erosion, deposition and soil carbon: a review of process-level controls, experimental tools and models to address C cycling in dynamic landscapes. Earth Sci Rev 154:102–122. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.12.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dung NV, Vien TD, Lam NT, Tuong TM, Cadisch G (2008) Analysis of the sustainability within the composite swidden agroecosystem in northern Vietnam. 1. Partial nutrient balances and recovery times of upland fields. Agric Ecosyst Environ 128:37–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dung N, Vien T, Cadisch G, Lam N, Patanothai A, Rambo T, Truong T (2009) A nutrient balance analysis of the composite swiddening agroecosystem. In: Vien TD, Rambo TA, Lam NT (eds) Farming with fire and water—the human ecology of a composite Swiddening Community in Vietnam’s Northern Mountains. Kyoto University Press and Trans Pacific Press, Melbourne, p 456

    Google Scholar 

  • Efron B, Tibshirani RJ (1993) An introduction to the bootstrap. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • FAO Aquastat (2014) General summary Asia—irrigation. FAO. http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/asia/index5.stm. Accessed 20 Aug 2015

  • Fiener P, Dlugoß V, Van Oost K (2015) Erosion-induced carbon redistribution, burial and mineralisation—is the episodic nature of erosion processes important? Catena 133:282–292. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2015.05.027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox J, Fujita Y, Ngidang D, Peluso N, Potter L, Sakuntaladewi N, Sturgeon J, Thomas D (2009) Policies, political-economy, and swidden in Southeast Asia. Hum Ecol 37:305–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao P (2008) Understanding watershed suspended sediment transport. Prog Phys Geogr 32:243–263. doi:10.1177/0309133308094849

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Häring V, Fischer H, Stahr K (2014) Erosion of bulk soil and soil organic carbon after land use change in Northwest Vietnam. Catena 122:111–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herschy RW (1995) Streamflow measurement. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Institute IPN (2002) Rice series: rice—a practical guide to nutrient management. IPNI Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management. IPNI, Norcross

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacinthe PA, Filippelli GM, Tedesco LP, Raftis R (2012) Carbon storage and greenhouse gases emission from a fluvial reservoir in an agricultural landscape. Catena 94:53–63. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2011.03.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim JS, Oh SY, Oh KY (2006) Nutrient runoff from a Korean rice paddy watershed during multiple storm events in the growing season. J Hydrol 327:128–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King AP, Evatt KJ, Six J, Poch RM, Rolston DE, Hopmans JW (2009) Annual carbon and nitrogen loadings for a furrow-irrigated field. Agric Water Manag 96:925–930. doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2009.01.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkels FMSA, Cammeraat LH, Kuhn NJ (2014) The fate of soil organic carbon upon erosion, transport and deposition in agricultural landscapes—a review of different concepts. Geomorphology 226:94–105. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.07.023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kundarto M, Agus F, Maas A, Sunarminto BH (2002) Water balance, soil erosion and lateral transport of NPK in rice-field systems of sub watershed Kalibabon Semarang. Paper presented at the national seminar on multifunctionality and conversion of agricultural land, Bogor, Indonesia, 2nd October 2002 (in Indonesian)

  • Lal R (2001) Soil degradation by erosion. Land Degrad Dev 12:519–539. doi:10.1002/ldr.472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamers M, Anyusheva M, La N, Nguyen VV, Streck T (2011) Pesticide pollution in surface- and groundwater by paddy rice cultivation: a case study from Northern Vietnam. Clean Soil Air Water 39:356–361. doi:10.1002/clen.201000268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lassaletta L, Romero E, Billen G, Garnier J, García-Gómez H, Rovira J (2012) Spatialized N budgets in a large agricultural Mediterranean watershed: high loading and low transfer. Biogeosciences 9:57–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lick W (1982) Entrainment, deposition, and transport of fine-grained sediments in lakes. Hydrobiologia 91–92:31–40. doi:10.1007/BF02391920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maglinao AR, Valentin C, Penning de Vries F (2003) From soil research to land and water management: harmonizing people and nature. In: Proceedings of the IWMI-ADB project annual meeting and 7th MSEC assembly, Vientiane, Laos, 2nd till 7th Dec 2002

  • Mai VT, van Keulen H, Hessel R, Ritsema C, Roetter R, Phien T (2013) Influence of paddy rice terraces on soil erosion of a small watershed in a hilly area of Northern Vietnam. Paddy Water Environ 11:285–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maruyama T, Hashimoto I, Murashima K, Takimoto H (2008) Evaluation of N and P mass balance in paddy rice culture along Kahokugata Lake, Japan, to assess potential lake pollution. Paddy Water Environ 6:355–362. doi:10.1007/s10333-008-0135-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadeu E, Berhe AA, De Vente J, Boix-Fayos C (2012) Erosion, deposition and replacement of soil organic carbon in Mediterranean catchments: a geomorphological, isotopic and land use change approach. Biogeosciences 9:1099–1111. doi:10.5194/bg-9-1099-2012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nearing MA (1998) Why soil erosion models over-predict small soil losses and under-predict large soil losses. Catena 32:15–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pansak W, Hilger TH, Dercon G, Kongkaew T, Cadisch G (2008) Changes in the relationship between soil erosion and N loss pathways after establishing soil conservation systems in uplands of Northeast Thailand. Agric Ecosyst Environ 128:167–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piepho HP (2009) Data transformation in statistical analysis of field trials with changing treatment variance. Agron J 101:865–869. doi:10.2134/agronj2008.0226x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reichardt W, Dobermann A, George T (1998) Intensification of rice production systems: opportunities and limits. In: Dowling NG, Greenfield SM, Fischer KS (eds) Sustainability of rice in the global food system. International Rice Research Institute, Manila, pp 127–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutten M, van Dijk M, van Rooij W, Hilderink H (2014) Land use dynamics, climate change, and food security in Vietnam: a global-to-local modeling approach. World Dev 59:29–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitter P, Dercon G, Hilger T, Thi Le Ha T, Huu Thanh N, Lam N, Duc Vien T, Cadisch G (2010) Sediment induced soil spatial variation in paddy fields of Northwest Vietnam. Geoderma 155:298–307. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2009.12.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitter P, Dercon G, Hilger T, Hertel M, Treffner J, Lam N, Duc Vien T, Cadisch G (2011) Linking spatio-temporal variation of crop response with sediment deposition along paddy rice terraces. Agric Ecosyst Environ 140(1):34–45

  • Schmitter P, Fröhlich HL, Dercon G, Hilger T, Huu Thanh N, Lam NT, Vien TD, Cadisch G (2012) Redistribution of carbon and nitrogen through irrigation in intensively cultivated tropical mountainous watersheds. Biogeochemistry 109:133–150. doi:10.1007/s10533-011-9615-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schreier H, Brown S (2004) Multiscale approaches to watershed management: land-use impacts on nutrient and sediment dynamics. IAHS Publ Ser Proc Rep 287:61–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaets JIF, Schmitter P, Hilger T, Lamers M, Piepho HP, Vien TD, Cadisch G (2014) A turbidity-based method to continuously monitor sediment, carbon and nitrogen flows in mountainous watersheds. J Hydrol 513:45–57. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.03.034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaets JIF, Schmitter P, Hilger T, Vien TD, Cadisch G (2015) Sediment trap efficiency of paddy fields at the watershed scale in a mountainous catchment in Northwest Vietnam. Biogeosci Discuss 12:20437–20473. doi:10.5194/bgd-12-20437-2015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaets JIF, Piepho HP, Schmitter P, Hilger T, Cadisch G (in revision) Quantifying uncertainty on sediment loads using bootstrap confidence intervals

  • Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Loeppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Summer ME (eds) (1996) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. Chemical methods. SSA Book Series 5. Soil Science Society of America, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Suprapti H, Mawardi M, Shiddieq D (2010) Nitrogen transport and distribution on paddy rice soil under water efficient irrigation method. Paper presented at the International Seminar of ICID, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

  • Tuan VD, Hilger T, MacDonald L, Clemens G, Shiraishi E, Vien TD, Stahr K, Cadisch G (2014) Mitigation potential of soil conservation in maize cropping on steep slopes. Field Crops Res 156:91–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuan VD, Hilger T, Cadisch G (2015) Identifying resource competition in maize-based soil conservation systems using 13C and 15 N isotopic discrimination. Arch Agron Soil Sci. doi:10.1080/03650340.2015.1074185

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentin C, Agus F, Alamban R, Boosaner A, Bricquet JP, Chaplot V, de Guzman T, de Rouw A, Janeau JL, Orange D, Phachomphonh K, Do Duy P, Podwojewski P, Ribolzi O, Silvera N, Subagyono K, Thiébaux JP, Tran Duc T, Vadari T (2008) Runoff and sediment losses from 27 upland catchments in Southeast Asia: impact of rapid land use changes and conservation practices. Agric Ecosyst Environ 128:225–238. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2008.06.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Buuren S (2007) Multiple imputation of discrete and continuous data by fully conditional specification. Stat Methods Med Res 16:219–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Noordwijk M, Cerri C, Woomer PL, Nugroho K, Bernoux M (1997) Soil carbon dynamics in the humid tropical forest zone. Geoderma 79:187–225. doi:10.1016/S0016-7061(97)00042-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Oost K, Quine TA, Govers G, De Gryze S, Six J, Harden JW, Ritchie JC, McCarty GW, Heckrath G, Kosmas C, Giraldez JV, Marques Da Silva JR, Merckx R (2007) The impact of agricultural soil erosion on the global carbon cycle. Science 318:626–629. doi:10.1126/science.1145724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vörösmarty CJ, Meybeck M, Fekete B, Sharma K, Green P, Syvitski JPM (2003) Anthropogenic sediment retention: major global impact from registered river impoundments. Glob Planet Change 39:169–190. doi:10.1016/S0921-8181(03)00023-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamada S, Kitamura A, Kurikami H, Yamaguchi M, Malins A, Machida M (2015) Sediment and 137Cs transport and accumulation in the Ogaki Dam of eastern Fukushima. Environ Res Lett 10:014013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan X, Cai Z, Yang R, Ti C, Xia Y, Li F, Wang J, Ma A (2010) nitrogen budget and riverine nitrogen output in a rice paddy dominated agricultural watershed in eastern China. Biogeochemistry 106:489–501. doi:10.1007/s10533-010-9528-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshinaga I, Miura A, Hitomi T, Hamada K, Shiratani E (2007) Runoff nitrogen from a large sized paddy field during a crop period. Agric Water Manag 87:217–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the work of field assistants Do Thi Hoan and Nguyen Duy Nhiem in collecting the dataset, the lab team at the Central Water & Soil Lab at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, under supervision of Associate Prof. Nguyen Huu Thanh, the funding received by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the SFB Uplands Program, the collaboration with the Center for Agricultural Research and Ecological Studies (CARES) at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, and the three reviewers for their helpful and very constructive comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstrasse 13, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany

    Johanna I. F. Slaets, T. Hilger & G. Cadisch

  2. The International Water Management Institute, Nile Basin and East Africa Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    P. Schmitter

  3. Central Water & Soil Lab at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam

    D. T. T. Hue

  4. Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstrasse 23, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany

    H. P. Piepho

  5. Centre for Agricultural Research and Ecological Studies (CARES), Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam

    T. D. Vien

Authors
  1. Johanna I. F. Slaets
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. Schmitter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T. Hilger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D. T. T. Hue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. H. P. Piepho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. T. D. Vien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. G. Cadisch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Johanna I. F. Slaets.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Asmeret Asefaw Berhe.

Appendix: Bootstrap estimates and confidence intervals for sediment loads

Appendix: Bootstrap estimates and confidence intervals for sediment loads

Calculating a measure of uncertainty on this sediment load is not trivial. The final value is a sum of instantaneous loads, and those loads are the product of two predicted values, concentration and discharge, which are not independent of each other, as discharge is a predictor variable for concentration. Additionally, the predicted values are on the transformed scale, and there is serial correlation in the sediment concentration data, as samples are taken closely together in time.

In order to calculate 95% confidence intervals on the sediment loads, a bootstrap method was developed that addresses all of these issues (Slaets et al. in revision). The bootstrap is a Monte Carlo-type method that generates the sampling distribution of a statistic by resampling a large number of times, either from the original observations or from a parametric distribution, to obtain new bootstrap datasets, on each of which the sediment load is calculated. This large number of bootstrap sediment loads provides an empirical distribution, which can be used to estimate the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. These percentiles are the limits of the 95% confidence interval (Efron and Tibshirani 1993). In our dataset, 2000 bootstrap replicates resulted in smooth histograms and reproducible percentiles. The developed method thus accounts for uncertainty in the parameter estimates of both the discharge and sediment rating curves, and uncertainty due to residual scatter in the sediment concentrations. In this approach, the final bootstrap process consists of three steps:

  1. (1)

    Non-parametric bootstrapping of the (stage, discharge) pairs in order to obtain 2000 bootstrap stage-discharge equations, and thus 2000 time series predictions for bootstrapped discharge;

  2. (2)

    Non-parametric bootstrapping of the sediment concentration dataset, by drawing whole events (to keep the serial correlation intact) and individual base-flow samples, resulting in 2000 bootstrap sediment rating curves, and thus 2000 time series predictions of continuous suspended sediment concentration;

  3. (3)

    Adding a simulated error term to the concentration predictions to account for inherent residual scatter in the data and to facilitate the back-transformation from the log-scale.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Slaets, J.I.F., Schmitter, P., Hilger, T. et al. Sediment-associated organic carbon and nitrogen inputs from erosion and irrigation to rice fields in a mountainous watershed in Northwest Vietnam. Biogeochemistry 129, 93–113 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0221-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-016-0221-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation