ARS Scientists Develop Phosphorus Index To Control Pasture Runoff
WASHINGTON, D.C. USDA
Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) scientists have developed a
Phosphorus Index (PI) to help curb
runoff when farmers fertilize pas
tures or croplands with animal
manure.
The research is already improv
ing the way farmers fertilize their
fields in Arkansas and may lead to
more advanced techniques across
the nation. Arkansas, a leading
poultry-producing state, began
using the index statewide in Febru
ary.
Previous studies show that poul
try litter applications to pastures
often result in excessive runoff into
nearby water bodies, according to
Philip A. Moore, Jr., a soil scientist
with the ARS Poultry Production
and Products Safety Research Unit,
Fayetteville, Ark. Eutrophication
occurs when nutrients from animal
manure especially phosphorus
wan
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are carried by water runoff to water
ways, forming blue-green algae and
undesirable aquatic plants that rob
water of oxygen.
One resulting problem is rising
municipal water rates because of the
cost of eliminating taste and odor
problems caused by algae. The lack
of oxygen in some bodies of water
has even led to the death of fish and
other aquatic life, according to
Moore.
Phosphorus is a crucial nutrient
in the nation’s pastures, but its
impact on the environment doesn’t
always stop there. Researchers rec
ognize a connection between in
creased soluble levels of phosphorus
in water and higher levels in a
watershed’s soil.
The index can be used to predict
the risk of phosphorus runoff from
pastures fertilized with animal
manure or commercial fertilizers,
according to Moore. Poultry litter
iicnn
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a mixture of chicken manure, feath
ers, spilled food, and bedding mate
rial is an inexpensive and
popular fertilizer for cropland be
cause the manure contains nitrogen
and phosphorus, two important fer
tilizer ingredients.
Several states use a soil test to
determine the threshold levels at
which animal manures may no
longer be applied. However, the
index developed by Moore, Paul B.
DeLaune, a doctoral candidate in
the Department of Crop, Soil and
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 21,2001, Foraging Around-29
Environmental Sciences at the Uni
versity of Arkansas in Fayetteville,
and other researchers now provides
farmers with a risk-assessment tool
to prevent over-fertilization and ac
tually predict phosphorus runoff.
ARS is the chief scientific re
search agency of the USDA.
Scientific contact is Philip A.
Moore, Jr., ARS Poultry Production
and Products Safety Research Unit,
Fayetteville, Ark., phone (501) 575-
5724, fax (501) 575-7465,
philipm@comp.uark.edu.
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Secretary-Treas.: Richard Hann, (717) 520-2349
Exec. Vice-Pres.; Marvin Hall, (814) 863-1019
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Officers