Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Soil Dynamics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #335230

Research Project: Enhancing Production and Ecosystem Services of Horticultural and Agricultural Systems in the Southeastern United States

Location: Soil Dynamics Research

Title: Gypsum's influence on corn yield and p loss from an eroded southern piedmont soil

Author
item Watts, Dexter
item Torbert, Henry - Allen

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/2016
Publication Date: 11/7/2016
Citation: Watts, D.B., Torbert III, H.A. 2016. Gypsum's influence on corn yield and p loss from an eroded southern piedmont soil. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Gypsum (CaSO4) has been shown to reduce dissolved P in surface water runoff from pastures fertilized with poultry litter (PL). However, limited research has evaluated gypsum’s influence on P loss under row crops. Moreover, can gypsum effectively reduce P loss when applied only to grass buffer strips at the edge of an agricultural field? Thus, a study was conducted to evaluate the influence of using FGD gypsum as a soil amendment for reducing P loss from corn plots fertilized with PL with and without buffer strips. Phosphorus loss was evaluated from plots where gypsum was applied to the corn plot (no buffer) vs. grass buffer strips only. Rainfall simulations were used to create runoff immediately and 6 wk after PL applications. The greatest P loss occurred in rainfall simulations occurring immediately after PL application. Dissolved P loss was drastically reduced following FGD gypsum applications in runoff events occurring immediately and 6 wk after PL application regardless of whether FGD gypsum was applied to the soil surface under corn or the grass buffer strip. Results from this study show that gypsum may be used as a management practice to reduce P loss from row crop systems following PL application.