Abstract
Intensification of the dairy industry in southern Idaho has led to the overapplication of manures and a buildup of soil phosphorus (P), which is a potential threat to water quality in the region. As the use of alum has been shown to reduce both soluble manure P and runoff P from alum-treated manures, the objective of this study was to determine if surface applications of alum to dairy manure and compost before soil incorporation would reduce P losses under furrow irrigation on a calcareous soil. The effects of manure, compost, and fertilizer application with and without alum treatment on soil P, runoff P, and aluminum under furrow irrigation, crop yield, tissue P concentrations, and P removal during a 4-year period were investigated in Kimberly, Idaho, on a Portneuf silt loam (coarse-silty, mixed superactive, mesic Durinodic Xeric Haplocalcids). Fertilizer and manure addition had the greatest potential to increase soluble P in soils compared with compost, which translated to greater soluble P losses with irrigation in some instances. The addition of alum to manure did not have any effect on soil-extractable P or soluble P losses from furrow irrigation and therefore, when surface applied to manure before incorporation, is not a good best management practice for stabilizing P in manure-treated calcareous soils.
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