Site Index Looks At Potential Phosphorous ‘Hot Spots’ ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Farming Staff (Dauphin Co.) To put the brakes on po tential phosphorous runoff from farmland, efforts may have to focus on the “hot spots” par- At the recent no-till conference in Grantville were, from left, Mark Goodson, agronomy agent, York County, and speaker Dr. Andrew Sharpley, research soil scien tist with USDA-ARS. Featuring: Feeding Nipples Ventilation 0 Wheeling Painted Galvanized Steel Roofing and Siding 65a3 BB Panelized Building Sefl H Poured Walls SIMPLE, VERSATILE, and AFFORDABLE Chore-Time* SUPER-Selector” PNT Ventilation Control is a user-friendly 12- stage microprocessor control designed to efficiently work with nearly all ventilation methods - natural, negative satic pressure, and tunnel. Easy to operate, this control features two heat and 10 cooling stages. The SUPER- Selector is easy to set up and adjust to fine tune for your building’s specific ventilation requirements. ticular areas on a farm already testing high with phosphorous and prone to pose a threat to watersheds. That’s the message delivered by a research leader with USDA Agriculture Research Service Thanks and CongiaMaiws to NORMAN & ESTHER ZIMMERMAN Chore-Time nipple come and feature Chore-Time's I® 1 " «-* Surge Plus® regulator which automatically boosts pressure y during times of „ J \_ i peak water consumption. z —; agrl systems Inrtheastl Store Hours: Mondoy-Frldoy 7:30 am to 4:30 pm 24 Hour-7 Day Repair Service (ARS) last week at the Mid- Atlantic No-Till Conference at the Holiday Inn in Grantville. Dr. Andrew N. Sharpley, re search leader with USDA-ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Lab, as sociated with Penn State, spoke to about 111 growers, crop ad visers, and other agri-industry representatives at the tillage conference. Sharpley provided an over view on work with the phospho rous index, a site assessment tool, in work done on several farms in a nearby watershed. In field maps, site index iden tification can map potential “hot spots” for phosphorous runoff. The index can tell soil scientists where phosphorous levels are high, where potential runoff can occur, but it doesn’t answer the ultimate question: does phosphorous get into the streams? The site covers four farms in Northumberland County, en compassing about 40 hectares, Sharpley noted. The FD-36 watershed has swine, poultry, and other types of farms nearby. All research was done on lease agreements, Sharpley said. About 30 percent of the land was in forest and there was some grazing. Most of the farmland was in East Earl, PA On their all new 44’x500’ Broiler House "Building and Equipment setfl - I Northeast Agri Systems, Inc, Flyway Business Park 139 A West Airport Road Lltltz, PA 17543 1-800-673-2580 Ph: (717)569-2702 row crops, with com/soybean ro tations, and some alfalfa, he noted. The grid sampling began about three years ago, including phosphorous. Agronomists are aware that com has virtually no response above SO parts per million (PPM) of phosphorous. Above 100 ppm, there is no defining crop response. Of the areas mapped, about 60-70 percent of the cropped area were above sufficient in terms of phosphorous, mostly from applications of swine slurry and poultry manure. There were streams and creeks on the farmland next to fields with high levels of phos phorous. What the research concluded was that there are “some areas more at risk than others,” Sharpley said. The national site index work began with the Natural Re source Conservation Service (NRCS) in 1990, at the South west Technical Institute in Fort Worth, Texas. For years the group studied phosphorous loss in soils, and concluded that a combination of factors in- cluding modes of transportation of the soil resource and the source of the material con tributed to potential runoff haz ards. Chore-Time’s new MODEL C2® PLUS Broiler Feeding System gets birds off to a good start, minimizes wasted feed, and provides birds with consistent access to fresh feed. The latest in Chore-Time’s 45-year history of outstanding broiler feeding systems, the MODEL C2® PLUS Includes a reinforced pan eating area and cone wear surface. This may be Chore-Time’s most durable broiler feeder yet. Northeast Agrl Systems” I master distributor since 1982 Delmarva Office 305 University Ave. Federalsburg, Md. 1-800-735-6361 410-754-9434 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 4, 2000-A43 Proximity of the hot spots to streams could be the real culprit. Managing those hot spots could provide more efficient at con trolling general runoff levels rather than using a standard, whole-farm approach. “Where we are on the land scape is critical,’’ he said. “Phosphorous has to travel a long way to get to a stream or channel.” • Soil texture and permeability are keys. Wet areas in the winter on soil, or applying the material to snow or ice, can contribute to runoff problems. Much of the runoff in the Northeast, he noted, could be blamed on satu rated excess of phosphorous in wet areas of land. Though heavy downpours can contribute to runoff, this region experiences that situation rarely if at all. In the future, USDA-ARS may come up with a way to, using GIS and mapping soft ware, distinctly identify areas of farms where runoff ability is high or low, he noted. Sharpley noted that 90 per cent of the phosphorous from a watershed is generated from 20- 25 percent of the land espe cially the “hot spots.” Right now, producers can stem the runoff by improving manure incorporation. If the fer- CTurn to Page A 44) Contracts Available Call For Information • Broiler • Turkeys • Hogs • OK Breeders • Orgamc/Natural Egg • Call for our free brochure “What is contract production’" Call JaySensenig 1-800-673-2580 Quality Buikling and Equipment Dedicated to PRODUCT
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