Nutrient transport characteristics of livestock manure in a farmland

Background: Livestock excretions containing high concentration of nutrient, pig liquid fertilizer, and cattle manurewere applied to agricultural land. The characteristics of nutrient transport were examined in surface runoff andgroundwater by an artificial rainfall event at real scale field site. Also, the effects of the artificial rainfall event on thecharacteristics of residual soil after the rainfall and phosphorus adsorption capacity were evaluated in the lab.Results: As results from the field experiments, nitrogen concentration was decreased by the repeatableprecipitation in surface runoff, but the nitrate concentration in groundwater was gradually increased by biologicalmetabolism, especially with pig liquid fertilizer. Phosphorus was mostly adsorbed into the soil, and its reduction wasaffected by the soil drainage due to surface runoff in summer. The adsorption capacity of the phosphorus via a jartest was determined as 0.7 mg P/kg of soil.Conclusion: The soil adsorption capacity would be an important factor for the optimum level of nutrientapplication that is required for agricultural performance and minimal environmental impact.

Keywords:

Cattle manure , Nitrogen , Phosphorus , Pig liquid fertilizer , Surface runoff