Nutrient Mitigation Efficiency in Agricultural Drainage Ditches: An Influence of Landscape Management

Autor: Seo-eun Choi, Jerry L. Farris, Matthew T. Moore, Oluwayinka Iseyemi
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 96:750-756
ISSN: 1432-0800
0007-4861
Popis: Drainage systems are integral parts of agricultural landscapes and have the ability to intercept nutrient loading from runoff to surface water. This study investigated nutrient removal efficiency within replicated experimental agricultural drainage ditches during a simulated summer runoff event. Study objectives were to examine the influence of routine mowing of vegetated ditches on nutrient mitigation and to assess spatial transformation of nutrients along ditch length. Both mowed and unmowed ditch treatments decreased NO3 (-)-N by 79 % and 94 % and PO4 (3-) by 95 % and 98 %, respectively, with no significant difference in reduction capacities between the two treatments. This suggests occasional ditch mowing as a management practice would not undermine nutrient mitigation capacity of vegetated drainage ditches.
Databáze: OpenAIRE