Reducing soil and nutrient losses from furrow irrigated fields with polymer applications

Lentz, R.D. and Sojka, R.E. and Robbins, C.W. (1998) Reducing soil and nutrient losses from furrow irrigated fields with polymer applications. In: Blume, H.P. and Eger, H. and Fleischhauer, E. and Hebel, A. and Reij, C. and Steiner, K.G., (eds.) Towards Sustainable Land Use. Advances in GeoEcology, No. 31. pp. 1233-1238. Catena Verlag, Reiskirchen.

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Abstract

Irrigation furrow runoff contains sediment, associated organics, and nutrients that enter surface
waters as non-point source contributions. We compared the effects of anionic polyacrylamide
(PAM) applications on furrow runoff losses of sediment, nitrate, ortho-phosphorus (ortho-P), total-phosphorus
(total-P), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Dry bean was planted on Portneuf silt
loam (Durixerollic Calciorthids) after conventional tillage.. Initial irrigation inflows of 23 L/min
were cut back to 15 L/min after runoff began. Control furrow streams contained no PAM. PAM
was applied continuously at 1 mg/L during the PAM Cl treatment. In the PAM I10 treatment, 10
mg/L PAM was applied to inflows early in the irrigation, then stopped once runoff began. Runoff
from PAM-treated furrows was 37% less than for controls. Runoff, ortho-P, and total-P concentrations
in control furrows were 5 to 7 times that of the pulsed-PAM treatment, and control COD
levels were 4 times those of the PAM I10 treatment. The Cl concentration values for all components
except nitrate were about twice as large as those of the I10 treatment. Total seasonal soil loss
was 3.14 Mg ha"' for control furrows, 0.35 for PAM-Cl, and 0.25 for PAM-I10 treatments.
Relative to controls, PAM markedly reduced total furrow losses of sediment, ortho-P, total-P, and
COD (60 to 92%), but had little influence on runoff nitrate

Item Type:	Book Section
NWISRL Publication Number:	0969
Subjects:	Irrigation > Furrow irrigation > Runoff losses > Nutrients Soil > Chemistry Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Users 6 not found.
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:55
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2016 16:00
Item ID:	808
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/808