Impacts of Liquid and Solid Manures under Controlled Drainage with Sub-irrigation Recycling Systems on Water Quality and Crop Production

摘要

Agricultural production practices have a substantial impact on water quality by affecting the amount and timing of surface runoff, tile drainage and movement of nutrients. Almost all manure produced on Canadian farms is applied to agricultural land. The objectives are to determine the impacts of solid and liquid manure and controlled tile drainage with sub-surface irrigation recycling system vs. traditional free tile drainage systems on surface and sub-surface water quality and crop performance undercorn and soybean rotation. An existing replicated experimental infrastructure will be used which can automatically monitor individual field plots in real-time, and on a year-round basis, for the quantity and quality of surface runoff water and tile drainage water. Two water management strategies, regular tile drainage to provide minimum root zone water contents, and controlled drainage-subsurface irrigation with water recycling provide increased root zone water contents. The field site is established on Brookston clay/clay loam. Four separate reservoirs and water recycling system have been constructed at the existing experimental field. Some limited results will be discussed in related to the effectiveness of controlled drainage with sub-irrigation water recycling for mitigating the impacts of two manures on surface and sub-surface water quantity and quality and crop performance.