Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #416869
Research Project: Enhancing Long-Term Agroecosystem Sustainability of Water and Soil Resources Through Science and Technology

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Surface runoff responses to conservation cotton production systems and edge-of-field buffers

Author
item Locke, Martin
item Nelson, Amanda
item Witthaus, Lindsey
item KRUTZ, JASON - Mississippi State University
item Steinriede Jr, Robert
item Dabney, Seth
item Bingner, Ronald

Submitted to: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/9/2024
Publication Date: 4/9/2025
Citation: Locke, M.A., Nelson, A.M., Witthaus, L.M., Krutz, J.R., Steinriede Jr, R.W., Dabney, S.M., Bingner, R.L. 2025. Surface runoff responses to conservation cotton production systems and edge-of-field buffers. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 80(1):17-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224561.2024.2433925.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224561.2024.2433925

Interpretive Summary: Losses of water in runoff and sediment from erosion in agricultural row crops negatively impact soil and water resources in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. A field study was conducted from 2004 to 2011 to assess the effects of within-field and edge-of-field management on sediment and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) runoff. Research results indicated that reducing tillage and including cover crops reduced sediment and nutrient runoff losses, especially those associated with larger-sized sediments. Runoff losses of nitrogen and phosphorus associated with finer sediments tended to be higher under conservation management. Edge-of-field treatments (12-m buffer and stiff-grass hedge) also mitigated total sediment and nutrients associated with those sediments. This study supports the hypothesis that both within-field and edge-of-field conservation practices resulting in increased soil surface plant residues mitigate runoff losses in this region.

Technical Abstract: Mitigating runoff and erosion are important goals in row crop systems of the mid-southern United States. A long-term non-irrigated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) field study established in 2004, in Stoneville, MS, USA, was conducted to assess surface runoff in conservation management systems (2007-2011), including cover crop, tillage, and edge-of-field buffers. Conservation practices that increased residue cover on the field (Reduced Tillage [RT] with no cover crop [NC], RT with rye [Secale cereale cv. Wren Abruzzi] cover crop [CC], and No-Tillage [NT] NC) reduced total sediment loss in runoff 13.4%, 37.7%, and 50.1%, respectively. compared to conventional tillage (CTNC). Total kjeldahl N (TKN) and total P (TP) that were associated with coarse (>0.45 µm) solid phase sediment in runoff were reduced by up to 55%, however, nutrient losses associated with runoff solution and fine (<0.45-µm) solids increased under conservation management up to 29%. Edge-of-field buffers reduced total sediment and nutrients bound to coarse solids but were less effective with respect to soluble nutrient losses. Long-term Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source (AnnAGNPS) model simulations of plots corroborate experimental results indicating reduced sediment and P loads in no-tillage and cover crop treatments. Observations from this study support the hypothesis that within-field conservation practices that result in increased plant residue on the soil surface in cotton production systems can mitigate runoff losses in this region.