Effect of tillage on macropore flow and phosphorus transport to tile drains

Williams, Mark R.; King, Kevin W.; Ford, William I.; Buda, Anthony R.; Kennedy, Casey D.

doi:10.1002/2015wr017650

Cited by 131 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Understanding the factors that affect surface–tile connectivity may help identify regions and/or conditions that promote P losses via tile drainage, as there is substantial evidence that runoff is rapidly routed from the surface into tile drains through macropores (King et al, 2015b; Kleinman et al, 2015b; Williams et al, 2016). Further, a comprehensive understanding of site‐specific or climate factors that influence rapid surface–tile connectivity may improve modeling efforts, which currently do not capture such processes effectively (Radcliffe et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Hydrologic Response in Tile‐Drained Landscapes: Implications for Phosphorus Transport

et al. 2019

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Phosphorus (P) loss in agricultural discharge has typically been associated with surface runoff; however, tile drains have been identified as a key P pathway due to preferential transport. Identifying when and where these pathways are active may establish high‐risk periods and regions that are vulnerable for P loss. A synthesis of high‐frequency, runoff data from eight cropped fields across the Great Lakes region of North America over a 3‐yr period showed that both surface and tile flow occurred year‐round, although tile flow occurred more frequently. The relative timing of surface and tile flow activation was classified into four response types to infer runoff‐generation processes. Response types were found to vary with season and soil texture. In most events across all sites, tile responses preceded surface flow, whereas the occurrence of surface flow prior to tile flow was uncommon. The simultaneous activation of pathways, indicating rapid connectivity through the vadose zone, was seldom observed at the loam sites but occurred at clay sites during spring and summer. Surface flow at the loam sites was often generated as saturation‐excess, a phenomenon rarely observed on the clay sites. Contrary to expectations, significant differences in P loads in tiles were not apparent under the different response types. This may be due to the frequency of the water quality sampling or may indicate that factors other than surface‐tile hydrologic connectivity drive tile P concentrations. This work provides new insight into spatial and temporal differences in runoff mechanisms in tile‐drained landscapes. Core Ideas Activation of surface runoff and tile flow differ with soil texture and season. Timing of flow path activation was used to infer hydrological processes. Connectivity between the surface and tiles exists on clay soil during growing season. Rapid connectivity between the surface and tiles occurs less frequently on loam.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Hydrologic Response in Tile‐Drained Landscapes: Implications for Phosphorus Transport

et al. 2019

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“…Preferential flow might be enhanced by reduced tillage. In comparison with the tilled systems, the no-tilled systems showed an increase in P loss loads (Djodjic et al 2002) and led to relatively higher concentrations of dissolved P in drainage water (Williams et al 2016). Therefore, the reduced soil tillage systems without ploughing that have been applied since 2006 might be associated with the decreasing CAL-soluble P in the topsoil of the experiment presented here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction of soil pH and phosphorus efficacy: Long-term effects of P fertilizer and lime applications on wheat, barley, and sugar beet

Tucher

Hörndl

Schmidhalter

2017

Ambio

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Phosphorus (P), a plant macronutrient, must be adequately supplied for crop growth. In Germany, many soils are high in plant-available P; specifically in arable farming, P fertilizer application has been reduced or even omitted in the last decade. Therefore, it is important to understand how long these soils can support sustainable crop production, and what concentrations of soil P are required for it. We analyzed a 36-year long-term field experiment regarding the effects of different P application and liming rates on plant growth and soil P concentrations with a crop rotation of sugar beet, wheat, and barley. Sugar beet reacted to low soil P and low soil pH levels more sensitively than wheat, which was not significantly affected by the long-term omitted P application. All three crop species showed adequate growth at soil P levels lower than the currently recommended levels, if low soil pH was optimized by liming. The increase in efficacy of soil and fertilizer P by reduced P application rates therefore requires the adaptation of the soil pH to a soil type-specific optimal level.

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“…2B). Previous studies even showed that vertical macropores allow new water to be translocated from the surface to tile drains (e.g., Stamm et al, 1998;Smith et al, 2015;Williams et al, 2016). In the current study, however, dye stains did not extend to the 100-cm depth where tiles are typically installed in the region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferential Flow in Vertisolic Soils with and without Organic Amendments

Ali

Macrae

Walker

et al. 2018

Agricultural & Env Letters

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Core Ideas Matrix flow and macropore flow interact in Vertisols via lateral infiltration. Maximum water infiltration depths are greater in Vertisols with hog manure. Manure does not affect the mobilization of old soil water via macropore flow. Preferential flow has different agronomic and environmental effects in various soils. The objectives of this study were (i) to quantify matrix and preferential flow and (ii) to assess the effect of organic amendments on flow dynamics in agricultural Vertisols. Dye tracing and isotopic analysis were used to infer soil water infiltration and mixing on two plots: one treatment (with liquid hog manure) and one control. Results showed infiltration depths reaching 64 cm for the treatment plot and 45 cm for the control. For both plots, matrix flow was only observed in the top 10 cm, whereas preferential flow extended beyond the tillage depth. Dye traces provided evidence of lateral infiltration across macropore–matrix boundaries, while post‐experiment soil water averaged δ2H = −15.1‰ and δ18O = −118.9‰, hinting at old water mobilization via macropore flow. The potential impacts of these results on chemical transport should be validated across different soils and environmental conditions.

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Effect of tillage on macropore flow and phosphorus transport to tile drains

Cited by 131 publications

References 43 publications

Evaluating Hydrologic Response in Tile‐Drained Landscapes: Implications for Phosphorus Transport

Evaluating Hydrologic Response in Tile‐Drained Landscapes: Implications for Phosphorus Transport

Interaction of soil pH and phosphorus efficacy: Long-term effects of P fertilizer and lime applications on wheat, barley, and sugar beet

Preferential Flow in Vertisolic Soils with and without Organic Amendments

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