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The Effect of Beef Feedlot Runoff on the Nitrate-Nitrogen Content of a Shallow Aquifer¹

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was performed to determine effects various application rates of beef feedlot runoff had on the NO₃-N concentration of a shallow aquifer. A randomized complete block design with 3 blocks and 5 application rates (0.0, 2.5, 5.1, 7.6, 10.2 cm) was used each irrigation. Treatments were applied after precipitation had produced sufficient runoff. A dual well system (shallow and deep wells in each plot) was sampled every month for 3 years and the collected water was analyzed for NO₃-N. Graphical and statistical examinations of the data indicated shallow well NO₃-N concentrations in block 3 were high (up to 46 mg/liter) and extremely variable. Statistical analyses performed on means from 12 quarters showed only one significant treatment effect in the seventh quarter. However, during most quarters the highest application rate showed the lowest concentration of NO₃-N in the ground water. The dual well system revealed parallel fluctuations in shallow and deep wells, indicating that some changes in NO₃-N resulted from a regional phenomenon rather than from applied treatments.

Key Words: NO₃-N variability • shallow aquifer • runoff • NO₃ contamination • dual well

¹ Contribution no. 80-253-J Dep. of Agronomy, Evapotranspiration Lab., and Dep. of Stat., Kansas Agric. Exp. Stn., Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS 66506.

² Graduate Research Assistant, Professors of Agronomy, Kansas State Univ. Great Plains Director, Potash and Phosphate Inst., Manhattan, Kansas and Assistant Professor and Consulting Research Statistician, Statistics Lab., Kansas State Univ., Manhattan.

Received for publication April 7, 1980.

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