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Published: 2004

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Runoff from agricultural fields amended with animal manure or fertilizer is a source of phosphorus (P) pollution to surface waters, which can have harmful effects such as eutrophication. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of soil P status and the P composition of manure sources on P in runoff, characterize the effects of manure sources on mass loss of dissolved reactive P (DRP), total dissolved P (TDP), algal available P (AAP) and total P (TP) in runoff, and enhance the PLAT database with respect to soluble P attenuating factor (SPAF) and non-soluble P attenuating factor (NSPAF) values. Soil boxes set at 5% slopes received 7.5 cm hr-1 of simulated rainfall. Study soils included a Kenansville loamy sand (loamy siliceous subactive thermic Arenic Hapludults, a Coastal Plain soil) and a Davidson silt loam (kaolinitic thermic Rhodic Kandiudults, a Piedmont soil). Soil test P concentrations ranged from 16 to 283 mg P kg-1. Sources of P included broiler litter (BRL), breeder manure (BRD), breeder manure treated with three rates of alum (Al2(SO4)3) BRD0-0 kg m-2, BRDL-3.9 kg m-2, and BRDH-7.8 kg m-2 and DAP along with an unamended control. All manure sources were applied at 66 kg P ha-1. Water extractable P (WEP) represented an average of 10?b 6% total P in manure. Runoff samples were taken over a 30-min period. Piedmont soil contained greater amounts of clay, Al and Fe concentrations, and higher P sorption capacities that produced significantly lower DRP, TDP, AAP, and TP losses than the Coastal Plain soil. Runoff P loss did not differ for low and high STP soils of same taxonomy with the exception of AAP mass losses for Coastal Plain soil samples. Water extractable P in manures accounted for all DRP lost in runoff with DRP correlating strongly with WEP concentration (0.9961). A weak relationship between DRP in runoff and WEP applied to soil boxes was observed (R2=0.6547) and increased when a possible outlying manure treatment, BRL, was omitted from r.