Leaching of Cations and Chloride from Manure Applied to an Irrigated Soil

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Abstract
Data for leached cations, (the sum of Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+), and leached Cl− and the ratio of cations to Cl− leached from the root zone during a 4‐year experiment with bovine manures on a Hartford soil are presented. Cation accumulation in the soil and the cations leached were linearly correlated with cation input. The removal of cations in harvested crops reached a maximum and then decreased as the input of cations increased. Leached Cl− increased at a ratio of 1:1 with the Cl− input in excess of removal in harvested crops, whereas leached cations increased with increase in inputs in excess of removal in crops and decreased with decrease in the volume of leachate. At low leachate volumes and with dry weights of liquid and solid manures at 21 and 40 metric tons/ha per year, respectively, the cations leached were less than in the check plots, indicating effective precipitation of the equivalent of the cations in the manure plus some of the cations in the irrigation water. At high leachate volumes manures increased the cations leached relative to the check treatment at all rates of manure. The dominant factor in cation leaching was volume of leachate. Carefully controlled irrigation to attain low leachate volumes combined with manure applications at reasonable rates could be used to reduce the overall effect of irrigation on the leaching of salts to ground waters.
Funding Information
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (12‐14‐100‐10431(41))

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