Tillage effects on surface runoff water quality from artificially drained cropland
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
7-1-1989
Abstract
Sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen were monitored in surface runoff and tile flow from approximately 4-ha watersheds subjected to a conservation tillage treatment (chisel plow) and a conventional tillage treatment (moldboard plow). The study site was located southeast of Saginaw Bay in mid-Michigan on a clay loam soil with less than 1% slope. Surface runoff constituted 35% and 42% of the total drainage volume for the conservation and conventional treatments, respectively, but generated 60-80% of the sediment, phosphorus and total Kjeldahl nitrogen losses. Conservation tillage markedly reduced sediment and nutrient losses during snowmelt events and early season rainstorms. Sediment concentrations in surface runoff were generally low in comparison to other agricultural field studies. Soluble P constituted one-half of the total P transported for both treatments.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers
Volume
32
Issue
4
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Gold, A. J., and T. L. Loudon. "Tillage effects on surface runoff water quality from artificially drained cropland." Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers 32, 4 (1989). https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/nrs_facpubs/462