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Nutrient Runoff from Pasture after Incorporation of Poultry Litter or Inorganic Fertilizer
Author(s) -
Nichols D. J.,
Daniel T. C.,
Edwards D. R.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1994.03615995005800040032x
Subject(s) - poultry litter , fertilizer , surface runoff , loam , festuca arundinacea , kjeldahl method , litter , zoology , agronomy , tillage , phosphorus , environmental science , chemistry , pasture , nutrient , nitrogen , soil water , poaceae , soil science , ecology , biology , organic chemistry
Land‐applied poultry litter can elevate N, P, and C concentrations in surface water runoff. This study tested the hypothesis that incorporation of surface‐applied poultry litter and inorganic fertilizer by rotary tillage would improve runoff quality from tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreber) pasture. Captina silt loam (fine‐silty, siliceous, mesic Typic Fragiudult) plots with 5% slopes and fescue cover received 4.5 Mg litter ha −1 or fertilizer equivalent to 218 kg N ha −1 and 87 kg P ha −1 . Litter and fertilizer were surface applied or incorporated 2 to 3 cm deep by rotary tillage. Simulated rainfall was applied 7 d later at 50 mm h −1 to produce continuous runoff for 0.5 h. Runoff concentrations and mass losses of measured constituents were not significantly different (α = 0.05) between surface‐applied and incorporated treatments. Runoff concentrations of total Kjeldahl N (TKN), NH 3 ‐N, NO 3 ‐N, total P (TP), PO 4 ‐P, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS) averaged 32.5, 12.4, 1.1, 15.4, 10.4, 427.8, and 86.8 mg L −1 for litter treatments, and 37.5, 39.0, 2.6, 26.2, 26.1, 87.8, and 20.6 mg L −1 for fertilizer treatments. Mass losses of TKN, NH 3 ‐N, NO 3 ‐N, TP, PO 4 ‐P, COD, and TSS averaged 2.8, 1.0, 0.1, 1.3, 0.9, 32.3, and 6.7 kg ha −1 for litter and 2.9, 3.4, 0.2, 2.0, 2.0, 12.7, and 2.1 kg ha −1 for fertilizer treatments. Runoff mass losses of TKN and TP were not significantly different between litter and fertilizer treatments. Averaged across all treatments and replications, mass losses of TKN and TP were 2.8 and 1.7 kg ha −1 , representing 1.3% of applied N and 1.9% of applied P.