An Assessment of Tillage Practices on the Reduction of Particulate Phosphate from Agricultural Lands PDF Download

Author: James M. Kraus
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Geography
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Author: Terry J. Logan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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This report examines and summarizes published and some unpublished data on the relative effects of conservation tillage (primarily no till) versus conventional tillage on surface runoff, soil loss and phosphorus loss. The data show that conservation tillage increased runoff relative to conventional tillage on soils with poor internal drainage and reduced runoff on more permeable soils. Conservation tillage greatly reduced soil loss and total particulate P (TPP) loss, but the percent reduction of TPP was only 89% of the percent reduction in soil loss. Conservation tillage increased soluble P (OP) losses in all cases. Conservation tillage was less effective in reducing plant-available (Bray P1) phosphate than in reducing TPP. P fertilization in excess of crop needs increased soluble P losses in runoff, and the effect of P fertilization on soluble P losses was greatest with no till because of P accumulation at the surface. (Author).

Author: Stephanie Ann Nummer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 79

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Nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agricultural lands and the subsequent impact on water quality has been of great concern in the United States, due to harmful algal blooms and anoxic zones in areas such as Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico. Conservation practices have been widely used to reduce the quantity of nutrients leaving a field, but there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of these practices using field scale data. The objective of this thesis is to quantify the effect of conservation practices on nitrogen and phosphorus runoff in farmlands. A meta-analysis was conducted using the Measured Annual Nutrient loads from AGricultural Environments (MANAGE) database created by the USDA-ARS. MANAGE is a compilation of 65 publications including data on nitrogen and phosphorus loads, runoff, land use, fertilizer application, and other field characteristics. The observational nature of the dataset makes direct comparisons from field to field impossible because of large variations in field characteristics. Thus, additional steps must be taken to estimate the effect of conservation practices on nutrient loss. To quantify this effect, I used propensity score matching and multilevel modeling, two statistical methods common for observational data. Propensity score matching shows that conservation practices have a significant reduction of 67.5% in total phosphorus, 83% in particulate phosphorus, and 67.3% in particulate nitrogen. Multilevel modeling results - calculated using two different computational methods - support these findings by showing a significant reduction of 57.7% in total phosphorus, 76.2% and 82.1% in particulate phosphorus (via the two methods), and 63.7% in particulate nitrogen. When examining different land uses and fertilizer application methods, the multilevel modeling showed that conservation practices had the most impact on row crops (e.g. corn and soybeans) and on farms fertilized via the injected or surfaced applied method. The results from this work represent the average effect of conservation practices on a national scale. At a regional scale, the effects of conservation practices may vary because of regional differences in agricultural practices and climate. To assist future research at regional and local scales, this thesis provides a Bayesian modeling framework for future quantification of these effects.

Author: Frank M. D'Itri
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351079301
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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This book describes concepts, value judgments and background information on the expanding conservation tillage practices in the United States and provides a technical appraisal of the state of the art. Still, much remains to be learned about the agronomic, agricultural engineering and environmental parameters; and it is hoped that the inormation herein presented will stimulate further research toward a more integrated apporach to conversation tillage practices.

Author: D. Lynn Forster
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Previous research in the Lake Erie Wastewater Management Study (LEWMS) points to the existence of economic incentives to reduce soil erosion on many row crop acres. One of the mechanisms for reducing soil erosion and ultimately phosphorus loadings in Lake Erie is the adoption of reduced tillage technologies on selected soils series. The general purpose of this analysis is to rank geographic areas in the Lake Erie basin with respect to the apparent economic incentive for the adoption of reduced tillage technologies. At this point in time, the analysis investigates only 'apparent' economic incentives. Reduced tillage technologies are used on a widespread basis; thus, analysis of the results of using these technologies are projections based on research results rather than actual farm experience. (Author).

Author: Jules N. Pretty
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136529276
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.

Author: J. Kühner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Author: Laura Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Tillage practices on agricultural fields have an impact on not only the amount of soil erosion from the fields, but also on the hydrologic and other environmental characteristics of the land. This erosion takes away soil that is necessary for sustainable agriculture, and the sediment and nutrient removal from the fields can pollute surrounding waterbodies. The Llanos Orientales of Colombia used to be a region of extended savannas and native fragile ecosystems dedicated to extended cattle ranch that has been transitioning to crop production. Agricultural expansion in this area, involving mechanization, could importantly accelerate the degradation of soils, limiting the development of sustainable agricultural systems. As a first step to understand long term effects of different tillage practices on new agricultural areas in the region, this study aims to evaluate the performance of the Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model to simulate runoff, soil erosion and crop yield from fields under conventional tillage, reduced tillage, and no tillage in the Llanos Orientales of Colombia. Calibrated APEX model predictions were compared against measured runoff, soil loss and crop yield data from row crop plots established in the Experimental Station la Libertad in Colombia under conventional, reduced and no-tillage management. APEX satisfactorily predicted runoff (Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency NSE>0.53, Percent Bias - [PBIAS] 21%) and crop yield for all three tillage systems (NSE0.82, [PBIAS]

Author: Terry J Logan
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351088521
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Nowadays the environmental sustainability of the cropping systems is increasingly requested by the consumers. Conventional tillage practices, totally turning over the soil between the vineyard rows, may cause erosion due to rain as well as structure destruction of the soil in the long term. Conservation tillage is a soil management technique, poorly widespread in Sardinia, allowing cover cropping between vineyard rows. Furthermore, this technique makes the canopy development control of herbage possible by cutting it up during specific phenological phases. Conservation tillage usually involves direct benefits to farmers such as increasing soil fertility as well as reductionof tillage costs, soil erosion and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere. This long term trial, during at least five years aims to assess the conservation tillage impact on chemical-physical soil characteristics in comparison with traditional tillage by evaluating the change of organic matter, C.E.C. and availability of major plant nutrients in the soil and to estimate their probable rise. The field plots are located in a 35% slope condition vineyard, showing massive erosion problem and organic matter low content. A split/plot design with four replications was set up, with the comparison between conservation and traditional tillage apart as main plots. Moreover, the effects of two different irrigation levels were evaluated in the subplots of each main plot. At the beginning of the trial (2011) a pedological survey was made. Three soil profiles were described and sampled along the field slope and soil sampling in each plot were made both to characterize the soil and to find the zero point. The soil chemical and physical characteristics were monitored through a second soil sampling made at the end of 2013. Conservation tillage caused increasing organic matter content and C.E.C. values. As for major plant nutrients in soil, results were more uncertain. Grapevine yield and quality parameters did not show any negative effect when passing from conventional to conservation tillage techniques. The trial provided a preliminary positive evaluation of conservation tillage. However, more years are required to confirm this trend.

Author: Frank M. D'Itri
Publisher: Springer
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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