Concentrated animal feeding operations, row crops, and their relationship to nitrate in eastern Iowa Rivers.

ABSTRACT: Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) and fertilizer application to row crops may contribute to poor water quality in surface waters. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated nutrient concentrations and fluxes in four Eastern Iowa watersheds sampled between 1996 and 2004. We found that these watersheds contribute nearly 10% of annual nitrate flux entering the Gulf of Mexico, while representing only 1.5% of the contributing drainage basin. Mass budget analysis shows streamflow to be a major loss of nitrogen (18% of total N output), second only to crop harvest (63%). The major watershed inputs of nitrogen include applied fertilizer for corn (54% of total N input) and nitrogen fixation by soybeans (26%). Despite the relatively small input from animal manure (approximately 5%), the result

SUBMITTER: Weldon MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2745718 | biostudies-literature | 2006 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature