OptiMa-N: a monitoring program to optimise N-fertilisation and reduce nitrate pollution

Nitrogen fertilisation has agronomic, economic and environmental implications. Maximising yields is a primary objective for farmers. Both they and technicians ask simple and easy to use tools to protect groundwater against nitrate leaching. This is the reason why CRPA decided to develop a dynamic Internet service (Sim.Ba-N, Bortolazzo et al., 2009) to determine N recommendations based on the Simplified N Balance Sheet adopted in the Emilia-Romagna region (Northern Italy). The objective of this research was to test the reliability of the N-balance method through a territory-wide network of trials, where nitrate levels in soils were determined over time in order to relate them to the amount of fertiliser applied and the crop yields obtained. The research was carried out as part of the LIFE OptiMa-N Project, conducted by CRPA and partially funded by the European Commission.