%0 Journal Article
%T Crop Residue Biomass Effects on Agricultural Runoff
%A Damodhara R. Mailapalli
%A Martin Burger
%A William R. Horwath
%A Wesley W. Wallender
%J Applied and Environmental Soil Science
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/805206
%X High residue loads associated with conservation tillage and cover cropping may impede water flow in furrow irrigation and thus decrease the efficiency of water delivery and runoff water quality. In this study, the biomass residue effects on infiltration, runoff, and export of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), sediment-associated carbon (TSS-C), and other undesirable constituents such as phosphate (soluble P), nitrate ( ), and ammonium ( ) in runoff water from a furrow-irrigated field were studied. Furrow irrigation experiments were conducted in 91 and 274£żm long fields, in which the amount of residue in the furrows varied among four treatments. The biomass residue in the furrows increased infiltration, and this affected total load of DOC, TSS, and TSS-C. Net storage of DOC took place in the long but not in the short field because most of the applied water ran off in the short field. Increasing field length decreased TSS and TSS-C losses. Total load of , , and soluble P decreased with increasing distance from the inflow due to infiltration. The concentration and load of P increased with increasing residue biomass in furrows, but no particular trend was observed for and . Overall, the constituents in the runoff decreased with increasing surface cover and field length. 1. Introduction The USA, having more than 408 million acres of crop land and an abundant supply of food products, is noted worldwide for its high productivity, quality and efficiency in delivering goods to the consumer [1]. However, the agricultural practices used to produce these quality products are affecting the sustainability of crop production systems and impacting water quality in many regions of the country. Agriculture is the third leading source of pollution in USA estuaries [2]. Specifically, elevated dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in runoff that finds its way to main drinking water supplies are of significant concern because of serious potential health concerns. During chlorination to produce drinking water, a subgroup of DOC, or disinfection byproduct precursors, form disinfection byproducts (DBPs), of which trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids are the most abundant. These DBPs, stringently regulated by the USEPA, are carcinogenic and mutagenic. Therefore, knowledge of water quality parameters such as nutrients, sediments, and bacterial concentrations of flooded fields is important, because the water released from these fields eventually flows into streams and rivers. One of the important methods of controlling pollution by agricultural
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aess/2013/805206/