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Effect of agricultural management of wet sloping soil on nitrate and phosphorus in surface and subsurface water
Author(s) -
Benoit George R.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr009i005p01296
Subject(s) - environmental science , agronomy , loam , hay , pasture , nitrate , surface runoff , phosphorus , soil water , soil science , chemistry , ecology , organic chemistry , biology
A 12‐plot study in East Franklin, Vermont, was conducted on a poorly drained, sloping Cabot silt loam to evaluate differences in nitrate and phosphate content of water from three cropping systems: (1) a timothy, red clover, Kentucky bluegrass hay‐pasture operation, (2) an alfalfa, hay operation, and (3) a corn silage operation. Six plots were in alfalfa hay, six plots were planted in corn, and the upslope area was in hay‐pasture. Soil samples were collected from the 12 plots in the summers of 1969 and 1970 and analyzed for total soil nitrogen. Surface and subsurface drain effluent samples from the plots and upslope area were analyzed for nitrates and phosphates. The results indicate that draining wet sloping land may decrease total soil nitrogen, that nitrate nitrogen may be lost from organic matter breakdown in cold but unfrozen soil, that nitrates but not phosphates will move both vertically and laterally through the soil to subsurface drains, that surface runoff contains few nitrates but significant concentrations of phosphates, and that more nitrates were lost from fertilized corn plots than from alfalfa plots or hay‐pasture areas.