Rainfall sequence effects on phosphorus loss in surface runoff from pastures that received poultry litter application

Land application of poultry litter to pasture elevates the concentration of phosphorus in surface runoff and it is becoming an increasing problem in sensitive water bodies. The objectives of this study were to assess the effects of soil test phosphorus (STP), surface application of poultry litter, rainfall/runoff sequences, and time after litter application on dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in surface runoff from pasture in a greenhouse experiment using rainfall simulation. Treatment factors were poultry litter at a rate of 0.0 and 6.7 Mg ha(-1), low and high STP, and three rainfall/runoff sequences (RRS). The latter refers to runoff-producing rainfall events starting from day 1, day 4, and day 7 after litter application. The study also included a rainfall simulation study of pasture field plots to investigate the effects of poultry litter and time after application on DRP in surface runoff which was used to corroborate the greenhouse study. In both studies, runoff samples were taken at the end of 30 min of continuous runoff Treatment effects on DRP concentrations in surface runoff were analyzed using ANOVA procedures using an alpha = 0.05. For the greenhouse study, poultry litter application, RRS, and time after litter application were found to have a highly significant effect on DRP concentration in surface runoff Poultry litter had a significant effect on DRP concentrations in surface runoff until 18 days after litter application compared to the controls. Between 18 and 32 days after litter application, the effect on DRP became insignificant for any level of STP or rainfall sequence. A rainfall event without runoff reduced DRP concentration in the first surface runoff events by more than 50%. For the field plot study. DRP decreased rapidly with time, thereby corroborating the greenhouse study. The effect of poultry litter on DRP became statistically insignificant sometime between 35 and 161 days after application