Introduction

Average sediment load in the Minnesota River at Mankato is 1.35 million metric tons per year (USGS, 1994). Approximately 567,000 metric tons per year (86 18-metric ton truckloads per day) of total suspended solids are transported by the Minnesota river at Fort Snelling (MWCC, 1990, 1991). About 90,000 metric tons of nitrate and 35,000 metric tons of orthophosphate were delivered to the Gulf of Mexico between April 1991 and April 1992. This is 16% of nitrogen fertilizer applied in one year in the Mississippi River Basin (Antweiler et al., 1995). About 7000 square miles of area is dead zone (<mg/L of oxygen in water) in the gulf of Mexico (NOAA Web site).

Objectives

• To characterize the impact of tillage and nutrient source on crop yield as well as on water quality from tile line and from surface inlets.
• To characterize the differences in water quality during snowmelt and rainfall periods.
• To delineate tillage systems that may be more appropriate for adoption when manure is land applied in the Minnesota River basin.

Project Description

Field plot tillage treatments include fall moldboard plowing and ridge till. Nitrogen treatments include fall applied beef manure and spring applied urea. Measurements will be made on tile line flow along with NO₃ and NH₄ concetrations. Runoff through surface tile inlets will also be monitored for sediment, total P, DMRP and mineral N.

Funding

Funding for this project is from USDA-CSRS-Water Quality, Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, and University of Minnesota Extension Service.

Last updated August 14, 1998 by drs
For questions and further information, send email to David Schmidt at: schmi071@maroon.tc.umn.edu

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