Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Kimberly, Idaho » Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308936
Title: Use of a surrogate to evaluate the impact of tillage on the transport of steroid hormones from manure-amended agricultural field

Author
item BISWAS, S - University Of Nebraska
item KRANZ, W - University Of Nebraska
item SHAPIRO, C - University Of Nebraska
item MAMO, M - University Of Nebraska
item BARTELT-HUNT, S - University Of Nebraska
item SNOW, D - University Of Nebraska
item SHELTON, D - University Of Nebraska
item Tarkalson, David
item MADER, T - University Of Nebraska
item VAN DONK, S - University Of Nebraska
item ZHANG, T - University Of Nebraska

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2013
Publication Date: 9/1/2013
Citation: Biswas, S., Kranz, W.L., Shapiro, C.A., Mamo, M., Bartelt-Hunt, S.L., Snow, D.D., Shelton, D.P., Tarkalson, D.D., Mader, T.L., Van Donk, S.J., Zhang, T.C. 2013. Use of a surrogate to evaluate the impact of tillage on the transport of steroid hormones from manure-amended agricultural field. Transactions of the ASABE. 56(4):1379-1385.

Interpretive Summary: Beef feedlot manure distributed to row crop production areas is a potential surface water contaminant source of the steroid hormones commonly used in beef cattle production. This article reports on research conducted at the University of Nebraska Haskell Agricultural Laboratory in 2009. Beef feedlot manure (stockpiled for ten months) and a surrogate hormone, 17 alpha ethynylestradiol, was applied to a bare soil in a crop field. The materials were either incorporated using a single disk treatment or left on the soil surface in a no-till practice. A rainfall simulation experiment was conducted 24 hours after application and incorporation. Runoff samples were collected at 5 minute intervals during a 30 minutes runoff period for each treatment. Results indicated 96 percent less 17 alpha ethynylestradiol mass was transported from disk tilled plots compared to no-till. The greatest loss of the hormone from the no-till and disk treatments was 156 and 6 mg per hectare, respectively. Results of this study showed that a single pass disk tillage treatment can limit the overland transport of steroid hormones from crop production areas.

Technical Abstract: Beef feedlot manure distributed to row crop production areas is a potential surface water contaminant source of the steroid hormones commonly used in beef cattle production. This article reports on research conducted at the University of Nebraska Haskell Agricultural Laboratory near Concord, Nebraska, in July 2009. Manure, collected from beef feedlot pens, was stockpiled for ten months prior to application to a row crop field. Previous research identified that the detection frequency of steroid hormones in beef manure varies greatly. Thus, a surrogate (17 alpha-ethynylestradiol, EE2) was applied at a rate of 75 g per ha to ensure detectable concentrations in surface runoff samples. EE2 was applied directly to beef cattle manure and to bare soil. The EE2 and manure were either incorporated using a single disk treatment (T) or left on the soil surface in a no-till practice (NT). A rainfall simulation experiment was conducted 24 h after manure and EE2 incorporation using a factorial design consisting of tillage, manure, and EE2 treatments. Runoff samples were collected at 5 min intervals during a 30 min runoff period for each plot. Results indicated 96 percent less EE2 mass transport from disk tilled plots compared to no-till. The greatest loss of EE2 was 156 and 6 mg per ha from no-till and disked plots, respectively. Results of this study showed that a single-pass disk tillage treatment can limit the overland transport of steroid hormones from crop production areas.