Sloping upland fi elds under intensive farming have been a major source of agricultural nonpointsource (NPS) pollution in Korea. A series of runoff quality and the surface mulch effects onthe pollution management were measured for the past several years. Rainfall runoff monitoringof fi ve upland sites revealed that the runoff was seriously polluted by NPS pollutants. Therange of average event mean concentrations (EMCs) of typical NPS pollutants in runoff wasSS 547.4~2,593.2 mg/L, BOD 8.7~50.7 mg/L, TN 3.5~21.8 mg/L, and TP 2.4~13.1 mg/L.Four experiments with different runoff plot and fi eld conditions with a rice straw mat mulch(S), S with gypsum (SG) and SG with PAM (SPG) showed promising results as prospectivebest management practices (BMPs) in controlling NPS pollution from sloping fi elds. Range ofrunoff reduction by the treatments was between 28.3% and 96.7%. Range of NPS pollutionwas SS 71.5~99.5%, BOD 37.5~91.9%, TN 32.4~91.0%, and TP 43.0~95.7%. SPG showedthe best reduction effect for both runoff and NPS pollution. S also showed encouraging resultsas a prospective BMP. Crop yield by the treatment also increased by up to 740% in lettuce and6.1~39.2% in Chinese cabbage and radish. The experiments showed very promising effect ofthe mulch as BMPs. Furthermore, the development of agro-technologies suitable to the mulchtreatment required for successful adoption of the surface mulch BMPs was discussed.
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