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Title: SLOPE AND UNDERLAY AFFECT RUNOFF PERCENTAGE FOR WOVEN POLYPROPYLENE GROUND COVER

Author
item MILLION, JEFF - UF
item YEAGER, TOM - UF
item BRYANT, H - UF
item LARSEN, C - UF
item SHOOK, J - UF
item Albano, Joseph

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2003
Publication Date: 8/1/2003
Citation: Million, J.B., Yeager, T.H., Bryant, H.B., Larsen, C.A., Shook, J.K., Albano, J.P. 2003. Slope and underlay affect runoff percentage for woven polypropylene ground cover. HortScience. 38:670-671.

Interpretive Summary: Controlling that fate and transport of nutrient and pesticide contaminated runoff water from container nursery production areas is important for the protection of surface and ground water resources. Woven polyethylene is used extensively in container plant nurseries as a durable surface for container production. To better understand the fate of irrigation water, we designed and constructed platforms to simulate nursery production beds to measure the relative amounts of runoff and leachate from single irrigation events as affected by slope and underlay beneath polypropylene. The study documented that as slope increases, runoff increases, and that as the aggregate size of the underlay material increases, surface runoff decreases. In the later case, a decrease in runoff, however, my result in a greater chance of ground water contamination due to the higher percolation rates of, for example, the course sand used in the study.

Technical Abstract: Woven polyethylene is used extensively in container plant nurseries as a durable surface for container production. To better understand the fate of irrigation water, we designed and constructed platforms (2.9 meters-square) to measure the relative amounts of runoff and leachate from single irrigation events as affected by slope and underlay beneath polypropylene. Polypropylene covered platforms at slopes 1.5% and 11% were tested with each of five underlay treatments: none, coarse sand, corse sand with 50% of surface area removed, gravel, and native sand soil. Irrigation was applied for 30 minutes at 1.8 cm/hour. Average runoff percentages (runoff/runoff plus plus leachate) for the 1.5% slope were less than or equal to 0.7. Runoff percentages for each underlay at the 11% slope were larger for the 1.5% slope, ranging from 0.7 for course sand with 50% course sand removed to 3.1 for native sand soils. Results from these experiments will benefit nursery and water managers who must consider the impact that converting agrarian or naturally vegetated land to container nursery production has on altering drainage water flow. Our data also provide information useful for predicting the fate of nutrients and agrochemicals deposited on ground cover or exiting containers in nurseries.