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Computer models are commonly used for predicting risks of runoff P loss from agricultural fields by enabling simulation of various management practices and climatic scenarios. For P loss models to be useful tools, however, they must accurately predict P loss for a wide range of climatic, physiographic, and land management conditions. A complicating factor in developing and evaluating P loss models is the relative scarcity of available measured field data that adequately capture P losses before and after implementing management practices in a variety of physiographic settings. Here, we describe the development of the P Loss in runoff Events from Agricultural fields Database (PLEAD)—a compilation of event‐based, field‐scale dissolved and/or total P loss runoff loadings from agricultural fields collected at various research sites located in the US Heartland and southern United States. The database also includes runoff and erosion rates; soil‐test P; tillage practices; planting and harvesting rates and practices; fertilizer application rate, method, and timing; manure application rate, method, and timing; and livestock grazing density and timing. In total, >1800 individual runoff events—ranging in duration from 0.4 to 97 h—have been included in the database. Event runoff P losses ranged from <0.05 to 1.3 and 3.0 kg P ha−1 for dissolved and total P, respectively. The data contained in this database have been used in multiple research studies to address important modeling questions relevant to P management planning. We provide these data to encourage additional studies by other researchers. The PLEAD database is available at https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1482380. Core Ideas: Development of database containing P loss from agricultural fields is described.We provide public access to P loss data for individual runoff events.The data can be used to evaluate P loss models and P Indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous work showed that simulated rainfall applied immediately after urea application to a pine forest floor decreased NH3 losses to negligible levels. The same work also showed that unless rain occurs before urea is dissolved, it might not be effective at leaching urea into the forest floor and decreasing NH3 losses. This study evaluated the effects of diurnal humidity cycles and rainfall amounts on the proportion of urea leached from loblolly pine (Pinus taeds L.) forest floor fractions, and on subsequent ammonia volatilization. New and old pine needles, as well as the partially decomposed (Oe) horizon, were collected from a loblolly pine forest floor in Georgia, USA. Control samples and samples treated with urea at 200 kg N ha-1 were exposed to zero, two, four, or eight simulated humidity cycles, after which they were leached with nine 20-mm increments of simulated rain. Rainfall (180 mm) applied immediately after urea application (0 humidity cycles) leached >98% of the urea from the three forest fractions. Increasing the number of simulated humidity cycles from zero to eight decreased the percentage of urea leached from new pine needles from 98 to 49%, but did not have a major effect on the amount of urea leached from old needles or partially decomposed fraction. All of the urea not leached from new pine needles by 180 mm of simulated rainfall was extractable by water when the new needles were ground. When new needles treated with urea were leached with 180 mm of simulated rainfall and then incubated at 25°C and 95% relative humidity (RH) for 15 d, NH3 losses amounted to 8% of the urea applied. These results suggest that urea retained by recently dropped pine needles is found inside the needles, where it can be hydrolyzed and subsequently lost as NH3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton has become a dominant crop in the southeastern USA, but only about 12% of the 620,000 ha of cotton (Gossipium hirsutum L.) in Georgia, for example, is under conservation tillage. Georgia and bordering states produce about 42% of the poultry in the United States and in Georgia alone, this results in over 1.6 million Mg of poultry litter (PL) annually. The fertilizer value of PL is well-recognized but much of it is applied to pastures and only a small percentage is applied to crop land. Limited information is available on the response of cotton to PL as fertilizer in conservation tillage systems in the Southeast. The performance of cotton under two tillage and two fertilizer treatments was evaluated from 1996 to 1999 to highlight management options for increased adoption of conservation tillage and PL use. Cotton, followed by a rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop, was grown under a factorial arrangement of tillage (no-till (NT) vs conventional tillage (CT)) and fertilizer (ammonium nitrate, as conventional fertilizer (CF) vs PL) on a Cecil sandy loam (clayey, kaolinitic thermic Typic Kanhapludult; Chromi-Alumic Acrisol) near Watkinsville, Georgia. Average lint yield from 1996 to 1999 was in the sequence no-till poultry litter (NTPL)>no-till conventional fertilizer (NTCF)>conventional tillage poultry litter (CTPL)>conventional tillage and fertilizer (CTCF). Differences were significant at P≤0.05 for NTPL vs CTPL, NTPL vs CTCF, and NTCF vs CTCF. Average yield differences were also significant between NT and CT but not PL and CF. PL yielded more than CF only in 1997. NT generally had a more favorable soil water regime than CT. Yield differences among treatments occurred during the first 3 years only. Drought in the fourth year reduced yield across all treatments and negated treatment effects. Lint yield would increase in the southeastern USA and an additional outlet for the PL would be created by adopting NT and fertilizing with PL in cotton production. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Thirteen metric tons of poultry litter are produced annually by poultry producers in the U.S. Poultry litter contains the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, endocrine disruptors that have been detected in surface waters. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of poultry litter applications on estradiol and testosterone concentrations in subsurface drainage and surface runoff in irrigated crop land under no-till and conventional-till management. We conducted an irrigation study in fall of 2001 and spring of 2002. Four treatments, no-till plus poultry litter, conventional-till plus poultry litter, no-till plus conventional fertilizer, and conventional-till plus conventional fertilizer, were evaluated. Flow-weighted concentration and load ha¿1 of the two hormones were measured in drainage and runoff. Soil concentrations of estradiol and testosterone were measured. Based on comparisons to the conventional fertilizer (and control) treatments, poultry litter did not add to the flow-weighted concentration or load ha¿1 of either estradiol or testosterone in subsurface drainage or surface runoff. Significant differences were, however, observed between tillage treatments: flow-weighted concentrations of estradiol were greater for no-till than conventional-till plots of the June irrigation; and runoff loads of both estradiol and testosterone were less from no-till than conventional-till plots for the November irrigation. Although the differences between no-till and conventional-tillage appeared to affect the hydrologic transport of both hormones, the differences appeared to have inconsequential environmental impact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]