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Dairy farm manure and effluent are applied to cropland in China to provide a source of plant nutrients, but there are concerns over its effect on nitrogen (N) leaching loss and groundwater quality. To investigate the effects of land application of dairy manure and effluent on potential N leaching loss, two lysimeter trials were set up in clayey fluvo-aquic soil in a winter wheat-summer maize rotation cropping system on the North China Plain. The solid dairy manure trial included control without N fertilization (CK), inorganic N fertilizer (SNPK), and fresh (RAW) and composted (COM) dairy manure. The liquid dairy effluent trial consisted of control without N fertilization (CF), inorganic N fertilizer (ENPK), and fresh (FDE) and stored (SDE) dairy effluent. The N application rate was 225 kg N ha − 1 for inorganic N fertilizer, dairy manure, and effluent treatments in both seasons. Annual N leaching loss (ANLL) was highest in SNPK (53.02 and 16.21 kg N ha − 1 in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, respectively), which were 1.65- and 2.04-fold that of COM, and 1.59- and 1.26-fold that of RAW. In the effluent trial (2014/2015), ANLL for ENPK and SDE (16.22 and 16.86 kg N ha − 1 , respectively) were significantly higher than CF and FDE (6.3 and 13.21 kg N ha − 1 , respectively). NO 3 − contributed the most (34–92%) to total N leaching loss among all treatments, followed by dissolved organic N (14–57%). COM showed the lowest N leaching loss due to a reduction in NO 3 − loss. Yield-scaled N leaching in COM (0.35 kg N Mg − 1 silage) was significantly ( P < 0.05) lower than that in the other fertilization treatments. Therefore, the use of composted dairy manure should be increased and that of inorganic fertilizer decreased to reduce N leaching loss while ensuring high crop yield in the North China Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]