Progress 10/01/09 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences for the project were state and federal agencies associated with management of nutrient and water resources, including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Water Office, and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. We also provided educational materials to producers and crop consultants that are involved with managing manure resources. We engaged these audiences through presentations and discussions at meetings and conferences. Changes/Problems: Because manure management in feedlot areas influences the nutrient content and the environmental impact of manure, we expanded the project to include a study investing greenhouse gas emissions from confined animal feeding operations. This work will complement the field-based approaches by providing a broader view of the manure life-cycle. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Ammar Bhandari, a graduate student working toward his Ph.D., received training on the use of APEX to simulate P losses from agricultural fields receiving poultry litter. He also received training on how to develop independent research studies to evaluate P leaching in soils. He was trained in data collection, data organization, data analysis, and presentation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were disseminated to local, state, and regional stakeholders, including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, and nutrient management professionals (farmers and consultants), as part of the 2014 Heartland Water Quality Conference held on April 22-23, 2014 Saint Joseph, MO. Results were also presented to producers, consultants, and state agencies at the Kansas Governor's Water Conference, November 12-13, 2014. Manhattan, KS. Results were presented to scientists and extension educators at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA annual conferences on Nov. 4-6, 2013 in Tampa Bay, FL and on Nov. 3-5, 2014 in Long Beach, CA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project facilitates the improved understanding of i) nutrient availability from manure resources, ii) effects of manure management on nutrient losses from manure amended soils and iii) the effects of animal agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions. We developed a calibrated and validated field-scale model using the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model to predict the effects of manure management on P loss in surface runoff. We used the model to evaluate the effects of rate, timing, and frequency of poultry litter on P loss. We determined that long-term average annual losses of poultry litter are not influenced by frequency of poultry litter application when the average-annual application rate is held constant. For example, application of 1 Mg/ha every year produces approximately the same average loss as application of 8 Mg/ha once every 8 years. However, increasing the applications above 2 Mg/ha substantially increases the maximum annual losses when litter is applied in March. Furthermore, increasing the average annual application rate above 2Mg/ha substantially increases the average annual P loss and the maximum annual P loss. Therefore, we recommend litter long-term average application rates are kept equal to or below 2 Mg/ha and litter should be in fall (November) if annual applications exceed 2 Mg/ha (for example, application of 4 Mg/ha once every two years). This will minimize P losses and protect water quality. Confined feeding animal operations (CAFOs) are an important source of particulate material and greenhouse gases. Better measurements of methane and other trace gases from CAFOs will lead to a better assessment of different mitigation strategies aiming to minimize environmental impacts of animal production systems. The methane emissions of methane in pen surfaces in beef cattle feedlots are quite variable and dependent on environmental conditions, such as pen surface water content, and manure management. An eddy covariance system has been used to monitor CH4 and CO2 emissions from a beef cattle feedlot. This system is composed of a 20 foot-long flux tower, an H2O/CO2/CH4 high frequency gas analyzer, a three dimensional sonic anemometer, a power regulation system, as well as its own automated weather station. We have been analyzing for 10 months high frequency data (10 data points per second) collected in this ongoing experiment, and some preliminary results will be presented at the American Society of Agronomy meeting in 2014. These results indicate that methane and CO2 and methane fluxes at the feedlot were highly correlated to the wind direction. Flux footprint models and high resolution images have been used to interpret the variability of methane fluxes from feedlot pens.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Bhandari, A.B., N.O. Nelson, C. Baffaut, M. Van Liew, D.W. Sweeney, J.A. Lory, G.M. Pierzynski, P.L. Barnes, and K.A. Janssen. 2013. Runoff, sediment and total phosphorus loss predictions using the APEX model. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Nov. 4-6, 2013. Tampa Bay, FL. In ASA-CSSA-SSSA-CSSS Abstracts 2013 [CD-ROM]. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, Madison, WI.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Nelson, N.O., C. Baffaut, M. Van Liew, A. Senaviratne, A.B. Bhandari, Lory, J., A. Mallarino, M. Helmers, R. Udawatta, D. W. Sweeney, and C. Wortmann. 2014. Use of existing data to optimize the APEX Model. Heartland Animal Manure Management Workshop, April 22-23, 2014. Saint Joseph, MO.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bhandari, A.B., N.O. Nelson, C. Baffaut, M. Van Liew, Lory, J, A. Senaviratne, D.W. Sweeney, G.M. Pierzynski, and P. Barnes. 2014. Evaluation of Poultry Litter Application Best Management Practices (BMPs) to Minimize Phosphorus Loss Using the APEX Model. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Nov. 3-5, 2014. Long Beach, CA. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2014am/webprogram/start.html.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bhandari, A.B., N.O. Nelson, D.W. Sweeney, and G.M. Pierzynski. 2014. What is the Right Rate and Timing for Poultry Litter Application in Southeast Kansas. Governors Water Conference, November 12-13, 2014. Manhattan, KS.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences for the project are state and federal agencies associated with management of nutrient and water resources, including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Water Office, and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Ammar Bhandari, a graduate student working toward his Ph.D. received training on the use of APEX to predict P losses from agricultural fields. He also received training on how to develop independent research studies to evaluate P leaching in soils. He was trained in data collection, data organization, data analysis, and presentation. Mark Davis received training on the analysis and interpretation of data describing crop response to N applications on manure amended soils. He was trained on the use of new techniques to asses nutrient availability from land-applied manure. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were disseminated to local, state, and regional stakeholders, including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department of Agriculture, as part of the 2013 Heartland Water Quality Conference held on Feb 19-20, 2013 in Nebraska City, NE. Results were also presented to watershed coordinators at the 2013 Kansas WRAPS Non-point Source Pollution Conference. April 16-17, 2013. Junction City, KS. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In the next reporting period, we plan to complete the analysis of data describing crop response to N in manure amended soils and the use of remote sensing to evaluate manure N availability. We will also update the APEX model to improve the estimates of P loss from manure amended soils. We will use the calibrated and validated version of the model to determine manure management impacts on P loss from agricultural fields.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This project facilitates the improved understanding of i) nutrient availability from manure resources and ii) effects of manure management on nutrient losses from manure amended soils. We investigated the use of the APEX model to determine if it could be used to estimate P losses from surface applied manures. In general, we found poor correlation between measure P losses and P losses predicted by APEX for soils amended with poultry litter. Therefore, we determined that APEX requires detailed site-specific calibration in order to predict P loss from manure. Furthermore, the model requires updated algorithms to predict P loss from surface-applied manures and fertilizers.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Nelson, N.O. 2013. Nutrient Management Planning for Agronomic Production and Water Quality Protection. 2013 Kansas WRAPS Non-point Source Pollution Conference. April 16-17, 2013. Junction City, KS.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Information on environmentally sound use of manure resources was distributed to state agencies in several meetings concerning requirements of nutrient management planning and the development of revised forms for use in nutrient management planning. Plans for future research were communicated with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Water Office, and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. A targeted meeting to discuss the use of the P index to assess the risk of P loss from manure amended fields was held with the Seneca Conservation District board. A new multi-state conservation innovation grant was submitted to and funded by the Natural Resource Conservation Service. New activities associated with this project include the calibration and validation of the APEX model for use on manure amended soils. The APEX model was set up for simulation of P losses from sites in Franklin and Crawford counties. The model set-up and comparison with measured data are still on-going research activities. Methods to utilize the APEX model to update the P index were communicated to a scientific audience at the 2012 SERA-17 meeting in Cincinnati OH. PARTICIPANTS: Nelson, N O (Principal Investigator) - Advising and supervising graduate and undergraduate students. Supervision of field data collection, sample analysis, and data analysis. Budget management. Ruiz Diaz, D. (Co-PI) - Direct and assist with extension education and advise on research efforts of the project. Davis, M.J. (Graduate Research Assistant) - carry out field, laboratory, and greenhouse research. Bhandari, A. B. (Graduate Research Assistant) - calibrate and validate APEX for use with manure amended soils. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences for the project are state and federal agencies associated with management of nutrient and water resources, including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Water Office, and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project scope was expanded to include the use field- and watershed-scale models to assess P losses from manure amended soils. The project has also been expanded to evaluate and improve the P index as a tool to assess the risk of P loss from manure amended soils.
Impacts
Results obtained from this project were used to propose new methods for evaluation of P indices when measured data is insufficient. The recommended procedure is as follows: 1. Develop a calibrated and validated model based on measured data from appropriate cropping systems in the ecoregion. 2. Use the model to predict P loss for a wide variety of cropping systems, P management options, and soil test P levels. 3. Compare the model outputs to P index assessments for the same set of cropping systems, P management options, and soil test P levels. 4. Adjust the P index to improve the comparison between the modeled data and the P index ratings.
Publications
- Nelson, N.O., and A.L. Shober. 2012. Evaluation of phosphorus indices after twenty years of science and development. J. Env. Qual. 41:1703-1710. (KAES publication 13-054-J).
- Nelson, N.O. and J. Lory. 2012. Using Models to Evaluate P Indices. SERA-17 Annual Meeting. Oct. 24-25, 2012. Cincinnati, OH.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Outputs from the project in 2011 were mainly research activities consisting of conducting field research experiments and the associated data collection. Two field research locations were established on upland and river bottom soils at the KSU Experiment station at Ashland Bottoms. The experiments evaluated wheat response to side-dress N applications with either manure or commercial fertilizer as the pre-plant N source. A remote sensing device was evaluated at each location to see if it could determine the potential crop response to additional N. Results from 2011 experiments indicate that the current methods of determining N recommendations for winter wheat can be highly variable, sometimes over predicting and under-predicting at other times. The N rate predictions were no better or worse when manure was used as a pre-plant N source. The greenseeker also had both over-prediction and under-prediction, but there was less variability than with the standard method. The greenseeker recommendation system was equally as good as our current system for manure-amended soils. Our research shows that the greenseeker has potential to help producers adjust the N fertilizer recommendations for winter wheat that has received manure. The greenseeker would be an acceptable alternative and may result in less variability in over- and under-application from year to year. PARTICIPANTS: Nelson, N O (Principal Investigator) - Advising and supervising graduate and undergraduate students. Supervision of field data collection, sample analysis, and data analysis. Budget management. Ruiz Diaz, D. (Co-PI) - Direct and assist with extension education and advise on research efforts of the project. Davis, M.J. (Graduate Research Assistant) - carry out field, laboratory, and greenhouse research. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences for the project are as follows: 1. research and extension personnel who would be advising producers on the tools available for judicious use of manure resources. 2. Wheat producers in the state of Kansas, particularly those who would be growing wheat on manure amended fields. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project scope was limited because the graduate student accepted a full-time position in the fertilizer industry prior to graduation.
Impacts
In general, the data has contributed to the body of knowledge on the topic of manure N availability. The data suggest that the current methods used to make N recommendations on manure-amended soils are adequate on average, but there is wide variability from site to site on their accuracy. The remote sensing device showed promise as an alternative for N recommendations, and may even have an advantage as the N recommendations were more consistent relative to optimal N rates across the range of N sources and manure application rates. General outcomes from our data are as follows: 1. Winter wheat responded to in-season N application on manure-amended soils. 2. There was no interaction between pre-plant N source and in-season N rate. This indicates that pre-plant N source did not affect N response function at these locations. 3. KSU recommendation system did well on average, but had high variability compared to optimum N rates. 4. GreenSeeker recommendation had equal performance on manure-amended soil as it did on commercial fertilized soils
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Outputs from the project in 2010 were mainly research activities consisting of conducting field research experiments and the associated data collection. Field research locations were established at the KSU Experiment station at Ashland Bottoms and on private farmer fields in Riley and Pottawatomie KS. All field experiments evaluated wheat response to side-dress N applications with either manure or commercial fertilizer as the pre-plant N source. A remote sensing device was evaluated at each location to see if it could determine the potential crop response to additional N. Additional field experiments were established for the 2010-2011 growing season to evaluate wheat response to side-dress N with either manure or commercial fertilizer as the pre-plant N source. Sites were established on upland and river bottom soils at the KSU Experiment station at Ashland Bottoms. Preliminary results from the first two growing seasons of the project indicate that current methods to determine N availability from manure tends to over-predict the amount of N released from the manure when applied to winter wheat, particularly for high manure application rates. Over-predicting the amount of N available from the manure results in N deficiencies for the winter wheat. Our research shows that the greenseeker has potential to help producers adjust the N fertilizer recommendations for winter wheat that has received manure. However, the green seeker consistently under-predicted the N requirement in our trials, therefore, further research is needed to refine the use of the greenseeker on manure amended soils. PARTICIPANTS: Nelson, N O (Principal Investigator) - Advising and supervising graduate and undergraduate students. Supervision of field data collection, sample analysis, and data analysis. Budget management. Ruiz Diaz, D. (Co-PI) - Direct and assist with extension education and advise on research efforts of the project. Davis, M.J. (Graduate Research Assistant) - carry out field, laboratory, and greenhouse research. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences for the project are as follows: 1. research and extension personnel who would be advising producers on the tools available for judicious use of manure resources. 2. Wheat producers in the state of Kansas, particularly those who would be growing wheat on manure amended fields. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
In general, the data has contributed to the body of knowledge on the topic of manure N availability. The data suggest that the current methods used to make N recommendations on manure-amended soils should be re-evaluated as they under estimated the N requirement for winter wheat, particularly for high manure application rates. The remote sensing device showed promise for improving the N recommendations, as the N recommendations were more consistent relative to optimal N rates across the range of N sources and manure application rates. These data justify further research investigating the use of the greenseeker for modifying N application rates for winter wheat grown on soils receiving manure. General outcomes from our data are as follows: 1. Winter wheat responded to in-season N application on manure-amended soils. 2. There was no interaction between pre-plant N source and in-season N rate. This indicates that pre-plant N source did not affect N response function at these locations. 3. KSU recommendation accuracy was affected by pre-plant N Source. 4. GreenSeeker recommendation had equal performance on manure-amended soil as it did on commercial fertilized soils.
Publications
- Davis, M.J., N.O. Nelson, D.B. Mengel, J.M. DeRouchey, and H. Blanco. 2010. Application of optical sensing for determination of top-dress nitrogen for winter wheat on manure-amended soils. In Proc. of the Great Plains Soil Fertility Conf., Denver, CO. March 2-3, 2010. International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Brookings, SD.
- Davis, M., N. Nelson, D. Mengel, and J. DeRouchey. 2010. Improving nitrogen management in manure amended soils with real-time optical sensing. ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting. Oct. 31 - Nov. 4 2010. Long Beach, CA. In ASA-CSSA-SSSA-CSSS Abstracts 2010 [CD-ROM]. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, Madison, WI.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Outputs from the project in 2009 were mainly research activities consisting of conducting field research experiments and the associated data collection. Field research locations were established at KSU experiment stations in Hays, KS and Manhattan, KS as well as on a private farm in Pottawatomie County KS. All field experiments evaluated wheat response to side-dress N applications with either manure or commercial fertilizer as the pre-plant N source. A remote sensing device was evaluated at each location to see if it could determine the potential crop response to additional N. Additional field experiments were established for the 2009-2010 growing season to evaluate wheat response to side-dress N with either manure or commercial fertilizer as the pre-plant N source. Sites were established at the KSU Experiment station at Ashland Bottoms and on private farmer fields in Riley and Pottawatomie KS. As this is the first year of the project, the research results are preliminary and we did not make any special efforts to disseminate them to the public. PARTICIPANTS: Nelson, N O (Principal Investigator) - Advising and supervising graduate and undergraduate students. Supervision of field data collection, sample analysis, and data analysis. Budget management. Ruiz Diaz, D. (Co-PI) - Direct and assist with extension education and advise on research efforts of the project. Davis, M.J. (Graduate Research Assistant) - carry out field, laboratory, and greenhouse research. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Because permanent funding for the project was not secured, the project size was reduced by focusing only on N recommendations for winter wheat (not grain sorghum) on manure amended soils. We also established plots that require less travel for maintenance and data collection.
Impacts
Because this is the first year of a multi-year study, it would be premature to try to change the actions of our constituents based on the preliminary data. In general, the data has contributed to the body of knowledge on the topic of manure N availability. The data suggest that the current methods used to make N recommendations on manure-amended soils should be re-evaluated as they over estimated the N requirement for winter wheat at all three locations. The remote sensing device showed promise for improving the N recommendations at two of the locations, but further data needs to be collected.
Publications
- Davis, M.J., and N.O. Nelson. 2009. Plant sensors for determination of side-dress nitrogen for grain sorghum on manure-amended soils. p. 3-5. In D. Ruiz Diaz (ed.) Kansas Fertilizer Research 2008, Kansas State University, April 2009. Contribution no. 09-209-S from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
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