Abstract: To investigate the effect of hydrodynamic disturbance on endogenous nitrogen (N) release in plateau mountainous rural ditches, N concentrations in overlying water under various flow disturbance intensities (0, 5, 15, 30, 60 L·h^-1) were analyzed by a simulation experiment. The results show that: (1) Sediment N can be released into overlying water by the initial hydrodynamic disturbance and reaches the highest values of NH₄⁺-N and TN at 5 and 60 L·h^-1 flow disturbance intensity, respectively. After 30 days, N concentration in the undisturbed water was higher than that in the disturbed water; (2) Sediment TN contents increased with the increasing of disturbance intensity, which however were lower than the background values, showing 0 < 5 < 30 < 15 < 60 L·h^-1; (3) The contents of different forms of transformable nitrogen (TTN) were in the order of strong oxidant extractable-N (SOEF-N) > strong alkali extractable-N (WAEF-N) > ion exchange-N (IEF-N) > weak acid extractable-N (SAEF-N), with releasing tendentiousness of IEF-N > WAEF-N > SAEF-N > SOEF-N. All N fractions of the sediment were at the lowest values under undisturbed treatment, indicating that the disturbance of flow benefits the N settlement in sediments, thus decreasing the risk of N to the surrounding environment.