Phosphorus leaching from cow manure patches on soil columns

The loss of P in overland flow or leachate from manure patches can impair surface water quality. We studied leaching of P from 10-cm-high lysimeters filled with intact grassland soil or with acid-washed sand. A manure patch was created on two grassland and two sand-filled lysimeters, and an additional two grass lysimeters served as blanks. Lysimeters were leached in the laboratory during 234 d with a diluted salt solution, and column effluent was passed through a 0.45-microm filter, analyzed for pH, dissolved reactive P (DRP), and total dissolved P (TDP). At the end of the experiment lysimeter soil was sampled and analyzed for pH, available P, and oxalate-extractable P, Fe, and Al. The concentration of TDP in the effluent from the sand column increased to 25 mg L-1 during the first weeks and remained above 10 mg L-1 during the rest of the percolation. In effluent from grass + patch lysimeters TDP gradually increased to 4 mg L-1. Both in the manure and in the effluent of the sand lysimeter P was found mainly in the form of DRP, but in the effluent from the grass lysimeters was found mainly as dissolved unreactive P (DUP=TDP-DRP). Earthworm activity was responsible for decomposition of the manure patch on the grass lysimeters. Manure patches and their remains were found to be a long-term source of high concentrations of P in leachates. Spreading of patches after a grazing period could reduce their possible negative impacts on the environment.