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Title: NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS LOSSES FROM NO-TILL COTTON FERTILIZED WITH POULTRY LITTER IN THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT

Author
item Endale, Dinku
item CABRERA, M
item RADCLIFFE, D
item Steiner, Jean

Submitted to: Georgia Water Resources Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/26/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: .

Technical Abstract: Adoption of conservation tillage and use of poultry litter as fertilizer in major crops is increasing in the Southeastern USA. The water quality impact of these alternative cropping methods needs investigation. In a study near Watkinsville, GA, nitrate loss through drainage was similar between no-till (NT) and Conventional tillage (CT) cotton (mean 8.9 vs 8,2 kg/ha). Cotton fertilized with poultry litter (PL) had higher nitrate loss than that fertilized with ammonium nitrate as conventional fertilizer (CF) (mean 10.3 vs 6.5 kg/ha). Peak nitrate concentrations reached 30 mg/L from CT and 15 mg/L from NT. Cotton under PL had about 5 mg/L higher peak concentration than F cotton. Losses of dissolved reactive phosphorus in runoff were: 0.24, 0.25, 0.45, and 0.72 kg/ha, respectively for CTCF, CTPL, NTCF and NTPL. There was 48% more total runoff from CT than NT.