The Effects of Clinotpitolites vs. Control-Release Fertilizer on Nitrate Leached from Silt Loam Soil

Agricultural leaching is where nutrients, minerals, and chemicals from the soil contaminate the groundwater after rainfall and irrigation. A method used to prevent leaching is the use of nitrate inhibitors but recently other minerals have been used. The purpose of this experiment was to find a more abundant and efficient method of reducing nitrate leaching in soil. The effectivness of clinotpitolite minerals versus control-release fertilizer were observed in this experiment. It was hypothesized that control-release fertilizer will more effectively reduce the amount of nitrate leached from silt loam soil than clinotpitolites.A one-way ANOVA showed that the differences between the control ( n = 30, M = 9.667, SD= 0.232), the clinotpitolite soil mixtures ( n = 30, M = 4.300, SD= 0.474), and the control-release fertilizer soil mixtures (n = 30, M = 5.247, SD = 0.580) were not statistically significant, F(5,174) = 67.45, p \u3c 0.001 \u3c α = 0.05. A post hoc Tukey test was performed on the data at α = 0.05 for the nitrate concentrations of different soil/mineral mixtures to determine where the mean differences lie. The resultsshowed there was no significant difference between the before and after of the control, but there was a significant difference between the after for the control and the after of the clinotpitolie and control-release fertilizer soil mixtures. There was also a significant difference between the before and after of the clinotpitolite soil mixtures, the before and after data of the control-release fertilizer soil mixtures, but no difference of the after data of the clinotpitolie and control-release fertilizer soil mixtures. These results showed the difference in the effectiveness of the clinotpitolie soil mixtures versus the control-release fertilizer soil mixtures in reducing nitrate leaching was not statistically significant