A24-Lsncastar Farming, Saturday, March 28, 1998 Dr. Beegle Clarifies (Condniwd from AI) developing a nutrient management plan. In most cases, including Pen nsylvania, nutrient management plans are based on balancing nitro gen. This is based on our scientific understanding of nitrogen beha vior and generally greater con cerns with the environmental fate of nitrogen and the potential nega tive human health effects of nitrates in water. At the same time, we have long recogrfized that one of the consequ ences of basing nutrient management plans on nitrogen is that, in most cases, excess phosphor us will be applied to the soil. This is not an ideal situation, but from our understanding of pho sphorus behavior, we know that there are things we can do to minimize the environ mental impact of this excess phosphorus, in many cases. Consequently, we have consistently emphasized that, while the official guidelines for manure management are based on nitrogen, we cannot ignore phosphorus. This is the reason for the inclusion of prac tices such as soil and water conservation, balancing manure appli cations over crop rota tions, cover crops, etc., in nutrient management plans. Research and experi ence over a number of years working in nutri ent management has also pointed out, how ever, that not all of the practices that we depend on to minimize pho sphorus impact on the environment are as effective as we thought, in all situations. For example, conser vation Ullage will dra matically reduce the loss of sediment-bound phosphorus from agri cultural fields, however, repeated excess applica- Uon of manure pho sphorus to the soil sur face can result in extremely high soil pho sphorus levels at the soil surface. Under normal condi tions, soils have a large capacity to adsorb (“adsorb” means to cling to, while “absorb" means to “incorporate") and hold phosphorus, thus phosphorus solu bility in the soil is gener ally very low. However, within the high phosphorus micro environment at the soil surface, the phosphorus adsorption capacity of the soil may become saturated to the point that water running over this soil surface can pick up signiGcant amounts of soluble phosphorus and transport it from the field to water bodies. This is not a “turnar ound in what has been considered scientific fact," but application of our con stantly improving understanding of phosphorus behavior to a diffe rent and changing set of circumstances. This is an example of why we need to continually do research and evaluate our experiences regarding what we know about phosphorus behavior and manage ment in context of changing conditions. As I stated earlier, the com- FIELD FENCE as low as $68.99 330’ Rolls - 30’ Free! 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However, as AMERICAN MADE Price 68.99 79.99 94.99 109.99 87.99 92.99 117.99 12.5 High Fence Arji Wire M M $59.99jf/ 100100 4000’ 200 m psi 100101 2000’ 200 m psi $34 99 CD MBPS For Ag, Construction, Marine • 3 1/2 HP B&S, 2" S&D $189.99 • 5 HP B&S, 2” S&D $209.99 $199.00 $269.00 $329.00 $429.00 $759.00 400220 400240 400040 400410 401780 Applicator Tanks mnomiiEsco UPS Shipping Point 3/28 noted in the article, the implica tions of this approach are very seri ous for animal agriculture. Because we believe that there are effective and practical alterna tives to this zero-tolerance approach, research has continued on agricultural phosphorus, its potential impact on the environ ment and possible management strategies. 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