Efficient water use and intelligent water management are essential for sustainable agricultural production. Long-term soil hydrological measurements were used to quantify deep drainage rates and nitrate losses from arable land managed under various farming regimes (integrated, integrated with irrigation, ecologic and low input) and tillage systems (plough and no till) in the Pleistocene region of Northeast Germany from 1994 to 2007. As dependent on the management system, the nitrate concentration varied between 40 and 150 mg l -1. In connection with annual deep drainage rates between 100 mm and 200 mm during the study period, the annual nitrogen loss varied between 14 and 41 kg ha -1. Differences in nitrogen loss observed between the farming systems were low, but yields increased and nitrogen losses decreased as a result of irrigation throughout the variants. No-till treatment resulted in reduced nitrate leaching (18 kg ha -1) as compared with the tillage systems with plough and tooth cultivator (27 kg ha -1).
