• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.170-176
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• 1998

Nitrogen and phosphorus loads from an agricultural watershed of the Yulmun-chon tributary in the Buk-Han River Basin were quantified based on total amounts of water stream flow. The water quality and soil loss were estimated. Levels of the stream were recorded automatically using the water level meter. The flow velocities, along with the cross-sectional areas of the riverbed, were measured to estimate total amounts of water flow at three monitoring sites in this tributary. Water samples were collected at nine sites with two weeks interval from May to August and analyzed for the water quality parameters. Amounts of soil loss were estimated by the USLE. The size of the Yulmunchon watershed was 3,210 ha, of which paddy and upland soil areas were composed about 41%. The total amounts of soil loss from the watershed areas were estimated to be $13,273Mg\;year^{-1}$, showing 53%, 46% and 0.7% of the soil loss ratio from upland, forest, and paddy areas, respectively. Electrical conductivities and Nitrogen concentrations of the stream water were higher in the lower watershed area than in the upper area. Increments of N were higher for $NO_3-N$ than $NH_4-N$. Nitrate nitrogen was the major N form to pollute the water due to the agricultural activity. Total runoff was about 72% of the total precipitation in the watershed. The maximum loads of T-N and T-P due to the runoff were estimated to be 1,500 and $5kg\;day^{-1}$, respectively. Concentrations of $NO_3-N$ and $NH_4-N$ in the runoff were 13.5 and 1.8 times higher than those in precipitation. The N loads were mainly from soil loss, application of fertilizer, and livestock wastes, which were 52% of total N load. Results demonstrated that reduction of fertilizer use and the soil loss would be essential for water quality protection of the agricultural watershed.