ABSTRACT:
Discharge of hormones contained in poultry litter into the environment may disrupt the health and reproduction of fish and other animals. A runoff study was conducted to evaluate grass filter effectiveness in reducing transport of the estrogen hormone 17β-estradiol in runoff from pasture-applied poultry litter. The study objectives were to determine the effects of source (litter-treated) length and grass filter length on runoff concentrations and losses of 17β-estradiol from poultry litter applied to tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreber) plots. Litter was applied at 5 Mg/ha (2.2 ton/ac) to the upslope 6.1, 12.2, and 18.3 m (20, 40, and 60 ft) of 24.4-m (80-ft) long grass strips. The corresponding grass filter lengths were 18.3, 12.2, and 6.1 m (60, 40, and 20 ft), respectively, with the downslope edge of source areas evaluated as a 0-m long filter. Simulated rain was applied at 50 mm/h (2 in/h) to produce runoff samples for 17β-estradiol analysis. Runoff concentrations and mass losses were not significantly affected by source length and averaged 3.5 μg/L (ppb) and 1413 mg/ha (0.02 oz/ac), respectively. Runoff concentrations were reduced by 58, 81, and 94% and mass losses by 79, 90, and 98% by filter lengths of 6.1, 12.2, and 18.3 m (20, 40, and 60 ft), respectively. The data from this research indicates that grass filter strips can effectively reduce runoff transport of 17β-estradiol from tall fescue-applied poultry litter.
Footnotes
D.J. Nichols is a research assistant, T.C. Daniel is a professor of agronomy, and D.H. Pote is a graduate assistant in the Dep. of Agronomy at the Univ. of Arkansas, 115 Plant Sciences, Fayetteville, AR 72701; telephone (501) 575-7192, e-mail: dni-chols{at}comp.uark.edu. P. A. Moore, Jr. is a soil chemist with the USDA-ARS Poultry Product and Poultry Safety Research Unit and Adjunct Associate Professor of Agronomy at the Univ. of Arkansas, Plant Sciences 115, Fayetteville AR 72701. D.R. Edwards is an associate professor in the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Dep. at the Univ. of Kentucky, 128 Agricultural Engineering Building, Lexington, KY 40546.
- Copyright 1998 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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