Onderbouwing van het Nederlandse derogatieverzoek in het kader van de Europese nitraatrichtlijn

The Dutch government has announced its intention to make a request to the European Commission for a derogation of the manure standard of 170 kg/ha nitrogen (in 2003) according to the EC nitrates directive. This report contains the argumentation for the derogation in case of grassland, due to a long growing season and a high nitrogen uptake compared to arable crops. The application of manure to grassland produced by a range of cattle densities (1-3 cows/ha) has been studied. The report concludes that the amount of nitrogen with manure on soils with a medium to high soil moisture holding capacity of about 360 kg/ha and on soils low soil moisture holding capacity about 290 kg/ha can be applied to grassland. This is only possible with daytaime grazing by the cattle and a limitation of the amount of chemical fertiliser. In this way the environmental objectives of the EC nitrates-directive can be met