assessment of the effects of poultry litter on surface runoff water quality from agricultural lands评估的影响家禽垃圾从农田地表径流水质.pdfVIP

J. Water Resource and Protection, 2010, 2, 413-423 doi:10.4236/jwarp.2010.25048 Published Online May 2010 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jwarp) Assessment of the Effects of Poultry Litter on Surface Runoff Water Quality from Agricultural Lands 1* 2 1 1 Sudarshan K. Dutta , Shreeram P. Inamdar , J. Tom Sims , Alyssa Collins 1 Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agricultural and Natural Resources, University of Delaware, Newark, USA 2Bioresources Engineering, College of Agricultural and Natural Resources, University of Delaware, Newark, USA E-mail : sdutta@ Received November 14, 2009; revised December 16, 2009; accepted April 2, 2010 Abstract The use of pelletized poultry litter (PPL) as a substitute for inorganic fertilizers is increasingly being en- couraged in states like Delaware which have a considerable surplus of poultry litter. However, we know very little about the impacts of PPL on runoff water quality and whether it is an environmentally-sound and sus- tainable alternative to inorganic fertilizer. To address these questions we compared the exports of nutrients (NH -N, NO -N and PO -P) and trace elements (As, Cu, and Zn) in surface runoff from agricultural plots 4 3 4 receiving PPL, raw poultry litter (RPL), urea and no-fertilizer (control) treatments. The study was conducted on agricultural land located in Middletown, Delaware with corn as the cover crop. The experimental plots were 5 m wide and 12 m long with reduced tillage and no-tillage management practices. Sampling was con- ducted for six natural rainfall events from April through August 2008. Nutrient (NH -N, NO -N and PO -P)