Impacts of surface runoff and sediment on nitrogen and phosphorus loss in red soil region of southern China

Surface runoff plays an important role in the process of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loss. It has two common evaluation indicators, runoff and sediment, which are greatly affected by the contributing factors. To study the impacts of surface runoff and sediment on N and P loss, 36 simulated rainfalls were applied on fields with different conditions (three rainfall intensities, three coverage ratios, and two slopes) at laboratory scale with two replicates. It was found that: (1) loss modulus of both the total nitrogen and total phosphorus decreased with runoff occurrence time; (2) runoff modulus had a closer relationship with undissolved N and P than dissolved N and P; (3) N loss was more affected by runoff than P loss; (4) both N and P loss modulus followed the consistent changes with the sediment content. At last, suggestions were provided to reduce the harm of N and P loss in red soil region of southern China in different areas with different conditions.