Reducing nutrient losses in runoff from furrow irrigation

Lentz, R.D. and Westermann, D.T. and Lehrsch, G.A. (2013) Reducing nutrient losses in runoff from furrow irrigation. pp. 60-66. In: Pettygrove, S. (ed.) Proceedings of the Western Nutrient Management Conference. Proceedings of the Western Nutrient Management Conference. Vol. 10. Reno, NV, March 7-8, 2013.

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Abstract

Few studies have comprehensively examined nutrient losses in runoff from furrow-irrigated fields, but the rising cost of fertilizer and finite nature of the resource encourages further research. A 2-yr experiment measured runoff losses of sediment, particulate P and N, and dissolved NO3-N, NH4-N, K, and reactive P (DRP) from fertilized, manured, or non-amended fields. Average nutrient losses were substantial, including 15.6 lbs ac/yr dissolved N, P, and K and 73.6 lbs ac/yr particulate N and P. The cost or replacing these nutrients with inorganic fertilizers was not trivial, at $54.69 ac/yr. Relative to non-amended soil, manure increased dissolved K, NO3-N, and DRP in runoff by 2.1x, 1.5x, and 2.7x, respectively. Other experiments evaluated the influence of furrow management practices on runoff nutrient loads from soils amended with manure in late summer and irrigated in the fall or following spring. We measured sediment, dissolved NO3-N, NH4-N, DRP, and TP concentrations in irrigation furrow runoff. Delaying the first irrigation until spring or treating the fall irrigation with polyacrylamide (WSPAM) reduced runoff component losses by 80 to 100% relative to Fall-Controls. In the spring irrigation, moldboard plowing reduced runoff DRP mass losses by ~60% compared to rototill. The buried lateral furrow system decreased runoff mass losses for sediment, DOC, and TP by >80% relative to conventional irrigation. This research demonstrated that several management practices may be successfully employed to substantially reduce offsite nutrient transport during the first irrigation on furrow-irrigated, manure-amended fields.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
NWISRL Publication Number:	1482
Subjects:	Irrigation > Furrow irrigation Irrigation > Furrow irrigation > Runoff losses Irrigation > Furrow irrigation > Runoff losses > Nutrients Irrigation > Furrow irrigation > Runoff losses > Sediment
Depositing User:	Users 6 not found.
Date Deposited:	14 Aug 2014 17:03
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2014 17:03
Item ID:	1518
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1518