Know Your Community: Managing Denitrification in Agronomic Systems

High levels of nitrate-nitrogen in ground and surface waters is a public health concern and can have negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Strategies and systems to minimize the loss of nitrate-nitrogen from agricultural production systems to ground and surface waters while maintaining food production are urgently needed. Because every agricultural field system is different, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to effectively prevent nitrate-nitrogen from leaving a field. Rather, it is often necessary to “stack” several conservation practices to minimize nitrate-nitrogen exports. A common and natural strategy to remove nitrate-nitrogen from water is through denitrification. Denitrification is a process where microorganisms reduce nitrogen in a series of steps to produce harmless gaseous molecular nitrogen. The denitrification process requires oxygen-free conditions and the presence of an electron donor, such as carbon-rich organic matter.