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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 47(2)

Management practices for control of runoff losses from cotton furrows under storm rainfall. III. Cover and wheel traffic effects on nutrients (N and P) in runoff from a black Vertosol

D. M. Silburn A C D F and H. M. Hunter B E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, PO Box 318, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.

B Natural Resource Sciences, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, 80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Qld 4068, Australia.

C Cotton Catchments Communities Cooperative Research Centre, Narrabri, Australia.

D eWater Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra, Australia.

E Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Australia.

F Corresponding author. Email: Mark.Silburn@nrw.qld.gov.au

Australian Journal of Soil Research 47(2) 221-233 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR08120
Submitted: 13 May 2008  Accepted: 12 November 2008   Published: 31 March 2009

Abstract

Transport of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in runoff was measured using a rainfall simulator on a cotton hill–furrow system with a range of on-ground cover (0–60%), each with and without prior wheel traffic in the furrow. Total N and P losses in runoff (kg/ha) from the bare plots on a whole-field basis (wheel and non-wheel tracks) were equivalent to 1.5% and 1%, respectively, of fertiliser applied that season (218 kg N/ha, 27 kg P/ha). This was for a single runoff event of 17 mm, about 1/10 of the total runoff expected in a season. Retaining surface cover and avoiding wheel traffic were both effective in reducing runoff losses of total N and P, especially when used together. Retaining cover gave considerably lower concentrations of total P, and of N and P associated with sediment, with no significant differences (P > 0.05) between wheel and non-wheel tracks. The majority of nutrients were transported with sediment, for P for all treatments, and for N from low cover plots. Concentrations of dissolved N, dominantly as NO3-N, were unaffected by cover on non-wheel tracks but increased with cover on wheel track plots where runoff occurred as shallow interflow. On a whole-field basis, N was mainly in dissolved form at higher covers, because most runoff came from wheel tracks where interflow occurred. Reducing the ratio of wheel tracks to non-wheel tracks will reduce runoff of N and P. Interflow or exfiltration above an infiltration throttle layer is a worst-case scenario for runoff transport of soluble, poorly sorbed chemicals such as NO3-N, which would otherwise leach and not enter runoff. To improve water quality, for both sorbed and dissolved forms, the combination of retaining cover and avoiding wheel traffic and subsoil compaction is needed. Similarly, land uses involving high nutrient inputs should be avoided on soils with shallow subsurface restrictions to infiltration, which are thus prone to interflow.

Primary (dispersed) clay and silt were slightly enriched in sediment in runoff, while primary fine and coarse sand were depleted. However, sediments were not enriched in total N and P compared with the soil surface, and organic carbon was only slightly enriched (enrichment ratio 1.06). This is typical of the behaviour of well-aggregated soils of high clay content.

Additional keywords: agricultural chemicals, nitrogen, phosphorus, controlled traffic, water quality, nutrient enrichment ratio.


Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, and the Land and Water Australia, Cotton Research and Development Corporation, and Murray–Darling Basin Commission ‘Pesticides in the Riverine Environment’ program under project QPI21, using the field site of project QPI23. We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the land holder Mr N. Hopson, and the efforts of NRW staff Jim Bourke, Keith Goodings, Jeff Mitchell, and Graeme Wockner in the field and laboratory; Evan Thomas for organising the field site; Bob Noble and the late Murray McDowell for nutrient sampling; staff of the NRW Analytical Laboratory, Indooroopilly for nutrient analysis; and Jenny Foley for statistical analysis. Many thanks also to David Waters, Phil Moody (NRW), Freeman Cook (CSIRO), and 2 referrers for critical discussion and editorial comments.


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