Fertilizer nitrogen (N) mainly remains in form of nitrate N in dryland soil of northern China if not taken up by crops, which may be leached downward to subsoil by rainfall and irrigation water, flowed into groundwater by runoff, and released to atmosphere in form of N₂O by denitrification, thus, may threat soil, water and atmosphere. Residue and leaching of nitrate N in soil profile and its relationships to factors, such as fertilization, irrigation and/or precipitation, tillage, soil and plant were discussed in this paper, and issues worthy especially attention in future study were also put forward:①establishing long-term experiments to determine threshold of nitrate N leaching, and to forecast tendency of nitrate residue and leaching; ②optimizing crop cultivation and nutrient management to promote crop capacity to use soil nitrate N; ③improving fertilization technique to enhance nitrogen management and to prevent nitrate N accumulation in dryland soil.