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Research article2018Peer reviewedOpen access

Assessing strategies to mitigate phosphorus leaching from drained clay soils

Ulen, Barbro; Larsbo, Mats; Koestel, Johannes; Hellner, Qarin; Blomberg, Maria; Geranmayeh, Pia

Abstract

Assessing mitigation of phosphorus (P) leaching from subsurface drainage systems is challenging due to high spatial and temporal variation in leaching. Mean measured total P leaching from a clayey soil in an eight-year study period (four replicates per treatment) was (kg ha(-1) year(-1)): 1.21 from shallow autumn tillage (ShT), 0.84 from unfertilised fallow (UF), 0.81 from conventional autumn ploughing (CT) and 0.57 from structure liming (SL-CT). Treatment was not significant using Richards-Baker flow index or a distance factor as covariate (p = 0.084 and 0.057). A tendency for lower leaching was obtained comparing SL-CT with ShT (p (adjusted) = 0.060 and 0.009 respectively). A combination of measures adapted to drainage conditions and clay content in different parts of the field is proposed since P leaching was approximately halved from an adjacent field (4.3 ha) in a three-year post-period compared with a three-year pre-period for structure liming the entire field and drainage system renovation plus structure lime drain backfilling.

Keywords

Drain renovation; Hydrological index; Lime-filter ditch; Soil tillage

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2018, Volume: 47, number: Supplement 1, pages: 114-123