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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #89357
Title: WATER QUALITY BETTER FROM PASTURES THAN FOREST

Author
item Owens, Lloyd
item BARTHOLOMEW, HANK - OSU EXTENSION

Submitted to: Stockman Grass Farmer
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Water quality is a major issue in agriculture today as emphasis is shifting to non-point sources of pollution. One aspect of agriculture's impact on the environment, which is being studied at the North Appalachian Experimental Watershed near Coshocton, OH, is the influence of various pasture management systems on water quality. In one study, the quality of surface runoff from a 64 acre watershed was compared without cattle, summer-only grazing and year-around grazing/feeding. No fertilizer was added, and the cattle had access to the entire watershed, i.e., no rotational grazing. Chemical concentrations in stream were low. In fact, they were lower than the concentrations of the same constituents from a nearby ungrazed, wooded watershed. Results from fertilized pasture systems showed that nitrate concentrations in surface runoff increased as nitrogen fertilization rates increased, but with the exception of occasional runoff a few days following fertilizer application, these concentrations were still sufficiently low to be acceptable. Most of the nitrogen moved in subsurface flow.