Water table management impacts on phosphorus loads in tile drainage

Increased phosphorus (P) concentrations, consistently exceeding Quebec's surface water quality standard of 0.03 mg L −1 total P, caused increased P loads in tile drainage from controlled drainage/subirrigation (CD/SI) plots compared to free drainage (FD) plots in a field study carried out in 20...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agricultural water management 2007-04, Vol.89 (1), p.71-80
Main Authors: Sanchez Valero, Caroline, Madramootoo, Chandra A., Stämpfli, Nicolas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage
Agricultural drainage
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biological and medical sciences
Controlled drainage
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General agronomy. Plant production
Irrigation. Drainage
Phosphorus
Soil and water pollution
Soil science
Subirrigation
Water quality
Water table management
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Summary:Increased phosphorus (P) concentrations, consistently exceeding Quebec's surface water quality standard of 0.03 mg L −1 total P, caused increased P loads in tile drainage from controlled drainage/subirrigation (CD/SI) plots compared to free drainage (FD) plots in a field study carried out in 2005 in Coteau-du-Lac (southwestern Quebec, Canada). This happened even though the total outflow volumes from CD/SI plots were reduced by 27% compared to FD plots. Of the total P concentration, around 96% was in the form of dissolved P under both treatments. The results also showed that CD/SI had no effect on the soil P concentration and P saturation. During the experiment, the SI water added about 0.84 kg P ha −1, which was negligible compared to the fertilizer input on the field, but represented about 8.5 times the average total P loss from CD/SI plots. However, a laboratory soil column experiment, in which the two drainage treatments were simulated and P-free water was used for SI, also showed increased P concentrations under CD/SI. This confirmed that the increased P loads in tile drainage under CD/SI were most likely caused by an increase in P solubility due to the shallow water table inherent to the water table management system rather than by the addition of P from the SI water.
ISSN:0378-3774
1873-2283
DOI:10.1016/j.agwat.2006.12.007