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Title: Drainage Water Management for the Midwest

Author
item FRANKENBERGER, JANE - PURDUE UNIVERSITY
item KLADIVKO, EILEEN - PURDUE UNIVERSITY
item SANDS, GARY - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item Jaynes, Dan
item Fausey, Norman
item HELMERS, MATT - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item COOKE, RICHARD - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item STROCK, JEFF - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item NELSON, KELLY - UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
item BROWN, LARRY - OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Extension Publications
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2006
Publication Date: 8/14/2006
Citation: Frankenberger, J., Kladivko, E., Sands, G., Jaynes, D.B., Fausey, N.R., Helmers, M., Cooke, R., Strock, J., Nelson, K., Brown, L. Drainage Water Management for the Midwest. Purdue Extension, Knowledge to Go. WQ-44. p. 1-8.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Subsurface tile drainage is an essential water management practice on many highly productive fields in the Midwest. However, nitrate carried in drainage water can lead to local water quality problems and contribute to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, so strategies are needed to reduce the nitrate loads while maintaining adequate drainage for crop production. Practices that can reduce nitrate loads on tile-drained soils include growing winter forage or cover crops, fine-tuning fertilizer application rates and timing, bioreactors, treatment wetlands, and modifying drainage system design and operation. Drainage water management is one of these practices and is described in this fact sheet. Answers given here apply specifically to Midwest corn and soybean cropping systems, and not to perennial or winter annual crops.