Simulating transport of nitrogen and phosphorus in a Cambisol after natural and simulated intense rainfall

•Simulation of nutrient transport in agricultural soil of the Atlantic Forest biome•Modeling transport of nitrogen and phosphorus after natural and simulated intense rainfall•Determination of nitrogen and phosphorus load in surface runoff and drainage flow in the soil profile

Intense rainfall adversely affects agricultural areas, causing transport of pollutants. Physically-based hydrological models to simulate flows of water and chemical substances can be used to help decision-makers adopt measures which reduce such problems. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of SWAP and ANIMO models for simulating transport of water, nitrate and phosphorus nutrients, during intense rainfall events generated by a simulator, and during natural rainfall, on a volumetric drainage lysimeter. The models were calibrated and verified using daily time series and simulated rainfall measured at 10-minute intervals. For daily time-intervals, the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient was 0.865 for the calibration period and 0.805 for verification. Under simulated rainfall, these coefficients were greater than 0.56. The pattern of both nitrate and phosphate concentrations in daily drainage flow under simulated rainfall was acceptably reproduced by the ANIMO model. In the simulated rainfall, loads of nitrate transported in surface runoff varied between 0.08 and 8.46 kg ha- 1, and in drainage form the lysimeter, between 2.44 and 112.57 kg ha- 1. In the case of phosphate, the loads transported in surface runoff varied between 0.002 and 0.504 kg ha- 1, and in drainage, between 0.005 and 1.107 kg ha- 1. The use of the two models SWAP and ANIMO shows the magnitudes of nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes transported by natural and simulated intense rainfall in an agricultural area with different soil management procedures, as required by decision makers.