Journal Article

Effects of modelling studies on controlled drainage in agricultural land on reduction of outflow and nitrate losses–a meta-analysis

Stasik, Rafał, Kęsicka, Barbara, Kozłowski, Michał

2022

Overview

A review with meta-analysis of outflow and nitrate loss reduction in controlled drainage (CD) vs conventional, free drainage (FD) was carried out in the study. Since the results of experimental field studies usually cover short periods of data collection, hence in this paper, meta-analyses were based on model studies that usually cover a longer time range. The databases Web of Science and Scopus were searched for eligible English articles, published until December 2020, that describe the quantity and quality of drainage water. The meta-analysis of outflow and nitrate loss reduction in CD vs FD using the mean difference (MD) with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. The influence of each study was measured through heterogeneity, sensitivity analyses and publication bias using STATISTICA (version 13.3) for all analyses. Of the 107 works identified, 18 were finally included in the analysis based on established criteria required for an appropriate meta-analysis. In general the results indicate a reduction in average drainage outflow of 30.5% (MD = -71.26 mm; 95% CI, -103.49 –-39.04; p = 0.000) in arable land with CD in comparison to FD practice. In the case of nitrate load the reduction was 33.61% and in the drainage water there was lower content in CD practice by an average of 8.36 kg NO 3 ha -1 year -1 (95% CI, -9.93 –-6.79; p = 0.000). Subgroup analysis of two meta-analyses indicates that the results concerning these associations may vary with the calculated weight for each article, in which the number of years of study had the most significant impact.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Agricultural land / Agricultural management / Agricultural production / Agriculture / Arable land / Biology and Life Sciences / Confidence intervals / Controlled drainage / Data collection / Drainage / Drainage water / Earth Sciences / Ecology and Environmental Sciences / Field study / Heterogeneity / Hydrology / Life sciences / Loss reduction / Management / Mechanical engineering / Medical ethics / Meta-analysis / Nitrates / Nitrogen / Nitrogen Oxides / Outflow / Physical Sciences / Rain / Research and Analysis Methods / Science Policy / Sensitivity analysis / Soil sciences / Subgroups / Water / Water quality / Water shortages