UAL Crop Nitrogen and Irrigation Lab

80% of greenhouse vegetable production in Almeria is in the Campo de Dalías region where there are substantial problems of aquifer nitrate contamination, aquifer overexploitation, and rising water tables. A regional study calculated the volume of water applied in irrigation and in other uses, and the associated drainage volumes and amounts of N leached as nitrate, for all greenhouses in the campo de Dalías region. The relative contributions from soil and substrate, from each species, from major management operations, and from losses in the distribution system were determined.