Effect of increasing the time between slurry application and first rainfall event on phosphorus concentrations in runoff

Abstract

Human-induced climate change is changing rainfall and the hydrological cycle (Trenberth, 2011). The first rainfall-runoff event following slurry application has the most impact in terms of exporting phosphorus (P) in runoff and so potentially degrades surface waters (Schroeder et al., 2004;Sharpley, 1997;Watson et al.,

Soil health and ecosystem services

“…Water pollution from soil management is affected by soil amendment type, rainfall intensity and interval, as well as topography and hydrogeology conditions (Wang, Guo, et al, 2022; Wang, Wang, et al, 2023; Yang et al, 2022). A study in Ireland found that increasing the time interval between slurry application and first rainfall event to 49 days could reduce phosphorus loading in runoff by 80% (O'Rourke et al, 2022). In New Zealand, farm dairy effluent is recycled in land application to supply nutrients to soil, however, it can also unintentionally contaminate surface water and groundwater by surface runoff or leaching of dissolved reactive phosphorus and E. coli .…”