The Application of Fertilizers to Drained Peat 1. Nutrient Losses in Drainage

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Abstract
An experiment to follow the fate of applied fertiliser was installed on a newly-drained raised bog near Edinburgh. Sixteen lysimeters (2.25 m 2 ) were constructed to isolate blocks of peat to 0.8 m depth and were allocated to four treatments; untreated control, + 50 kg P ha −1 (as rock phosphate), + 100 kg K ha −1 (as KCl), P and K together at these same rates. Fertilisers were applied in May 1977 and for the following three years drainage was collected weekly for chemical analysis. The hydrological behaviour of the lysimeters was checked by monitoring run-off from an enclosed 2.5 ha catchment. Losses of K in drainage were rapid but declined over the period until they were only slightly greater than control values; losses of P began after 24 weeks and were greatest in winter with no apparent decline; Ca was not leached and no significant release of N was detected. Control lysimeters showed a net loss of N and P following drainage. When K and P were applied separately losses were 39 and 16 per cent respectively but in combination the losses were reduced to 26 and 7 per cent. Concentrations of dissolved P in leachates exceeded 1.0 mgl −1 on occasion and K fertiliser initially reduced water pH.

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