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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Tucson, Arizona » SWRC » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #97226
Title: DROUGH AND GRAZING EFFECTS ON SURFACE RUNOFF, EROSION, AND NUTRIENT TRANSPORT 1228

Author
item Emmerich, William
item Heitschmidt, Rodney

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Meetings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/18/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Grazing and drought effect surface runoff, erosion, and nutrient ion transport. Understanding the importance of how they interact is essential to good rangeland management. Research was conducted on twelve non- weighing lysimeters with artificial drought and natural precipitation for one year. A natural drought during the artificial drought prevented direct tassessment of the interaction between drought and grazing. The drought produced significant reductions in water and sediment yield, and nutrient ion transport. No grazing impact was observed during the artificial drought primarily due to the natural drought. After the drought there was a nonsignificant increase in water and sediment yield, and nutrient transport from the drought treatment lysimeters. The grazing treatments showed significantly greater water and sediment yield, and nutrient transport than the ungrazed after the drought. The sediment yield data indicated an additive effect of drought and grazing treatments. The observed significant increases in water and sediment yield, and reduced water quality from the treatments were measured against controls. When compared to the natural variability and water quality standards, they were concluded to be minimal.