Effect of nitrogen fertiliser on the nitrate contents of field vegetables grown in Britain

The nitrate and percentage organic nitrogen contents of 14 vegetable and two arable crops were measured after they had been grown with different levels of N-fertiliser. Foliage crops always contained substantial quantities of nitrate which increased with increase in the rate of N-fertiliser application. Grain of legumes and cereals, storage roots of carrots, parsnips and sugar beet, and onion bulbs and leeks contained no detectable amounts of nitrate even when N-fertiliser application rates were very high. Storage roots of red beet, swede and white turnip contained more than 3 mg NON g^?1 dry weight when grown with exceptionally high levels of fertiliser-N but contained very little when grown with the optimum amount of fertiliser-N or less. An equation was developed that linked NON to percentage organic-N for those parts of plants that could accumulate nitrate. It gave good fits to the data from seven crop species grown at a range of different levels of N-nutrition. It is estimated from the foregoing data and a survey of household food consumption that the average British person consumes about 60 mg NON week^?1 in field vegetables. If N-fertilisers were withheld consumption would be about 30 mg and if excess were applied it would be about 120 mg NON week^?1.