Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Booneville, Arkansas » Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #370551
Research Project: Sustainable Small Farm and Organic Grass and Forage Production Systems for Livestock and Agroforestry

Location: Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center

Title: Runoff Water Quality after Litter Application in a Silt Loam No-till Corn-Soybean Rotation

Author
item LEE, BRAD - University Of Kentucky
item EDWARDS, DEWAYNE - University Of Kentucky
item BECK, GLYNN - University Of Kentucky
item AKLAND, MARK - University Of Kentucky
item UNRINE, JASON - University Of Kentucky
item Owens, Phillip

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2019
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Like many water bodies in the United States, the leading constituents impairing Kentucky’s streams and lakes include nutrients and sediments. Much of these impairments are attributed to agriculture practices, including broadcast poultry litter applications. We propose to temporally quantify the sediment and nutrient runoff in a common row-crop system (no-till, corn-soybean rotation) in one of the most productive regions of the Commonwealth. The high-yield, grain producing silt loam soils of the Lower Green River basin are home to one of three broiler producing areas of Kentucky, with approximately one-third of the broiler sales in the state. Broiler litter is used as a nutrient supplement and is broadcast applied after soybean harvest as soon as the fields are dry enough for application. Using flumes and automated water samplers we will quantify the amount of sediment (total solids) and nutrients (total nitrogen (TKN), total phosphorus, orthophosphate, ammonium nitrate and nitrate + nitrate) from six small catchments (range: 1.4 - 4.6 ha) within two fields from July 1, 2018 to Fall 2019.