Agricultural Uses of Yazoo River Dredged Material. Report 1. Cotton Production onDredged Material in a Thick-Layer Confined Disposal Facility

摘要

The use of Yazoo River dredged material for improving farmland consideredmarginal for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production was studied as an alternative to thick-layer confinement methods. The thick-layer confinement methods were not well received by landowners along the Yazoo River because of the loss of productive farmland by placement of confined disposal facilities (CDF) and lack of agricultural benefit. Disposal of Yazoo River dredged material in a shallow layer on marginal farmland not only provides for a means of dredged material disposal, but also improves marginal farmland making it more conducive to cotton production. Before the shallow-layer disposal concept was attempted, cotton response to Yazoo River dredged material was first studied on an existing thick-layer CDF. Dredged material was collected from an existing thick-layer CDF, and the entire CDF was characterized physically and chemically. Based on particle size analysis, the CDF was divided into three sections characterized as clay, silty clay loam, and loam. The clay section, which made up one third of the CDF, was not suitable for cotton production due to high moisture-holding capacity of the excess clay. Cotton was grown in an environmentally controlled greenhouse on dredged material collected from the silty clay loam and loam sections under various fertilizer treatments. Lint yields were equivalent to 351.5 and 20.0 kg ha-1 with no fertilizer added to the silty clay loam and loam, respectively. Yields of 775.3 and 432.2 kg ha-1 on the silty clay loam and loam, respectively, were obtained with an N rate of 168 kg ha-1. Lint yields were generally higher in the silty clay loam than the loam. Agriculture, Dredged material, Cotton, Thick-layer disposal.