Nitrogen stress is calculated only for non-legumes. SWAT+ never allows legumes to experience nitrogen stress.
Nitrogen stress is quantified by comparing actual and optimal plant nitrogen levels. Nitrogen stress varies non-linearly between 0.0 at optimal nitrogen content and 1.0 when the nitrogen content of the plant is 50% or less of the optimal value. Nitrogen stress is computed with the equation:
nstrs=1−ϕn​+exp[3.535−0.02597∗ϕn​]ϕn​​ 5:3.1.6
where nstrs is the nitrogen stress for a given day, and ϕn​ is a scaling factor for nitrogen stress. The scaling factor is calculated:
ϕn​=200∗(bioN,opt​bioN​​−0.5) 5:3.1.7
where is the optimal mass of nitrogen stored in plant material for the current growth stage (kg N/ha) and is the actual mass of nitrogen stored in plant material (kg N/ha).