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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Ground Water Quality

Nutrient Accumulation below Cattle Feedlot Pens in Kansas

^a Chemist, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, 5183 Blackhawk Rd., Bldg. 5100 (AMSRD-ECB-RT-C), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5424
^b Professor and Head, Kansas State Univ., Dep. of Agronomy, 2004 Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506
^c Professor, Colorado State Univ., Dep. of Soil and Crop Sciences, 1170 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1170
^d Associate Professor, Kansas State Univ., Dep. of Animal Sciences & Industry, 126 Weber Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506

^* Corresponding author (grace.vaillant{at}us.army.mil).

Received for publication April 30, 2008. Waste excreted on cattle (Bos taurus) feedlot pens is a source of N and other nutrients that could potentially leach into soil and negatively impact local groundwater quality. Analyses of soil chemical and physical properties beneath active open air feedlot pens were conducted at four Kansas locations to determine nutrient accumulation. Results were compared to estimated nutrient deposition, and remediation implications were considered. The surface concentrations of NH₄–N, organic N, organic C, Cl^–, and extractable P were elevated at the surface and rapidly decreased with depth to 1.0 m. Ammonium N in the top 0.25 m ranged from 8000 to 375 mg kg^–1 but decreased below background (5.6 mg kg^–1) at 1.0 to 1.3 m. Organic N in the top 0.25 m ranged from 22,000 to 500 mg kg^–1 and was the largest N source. At three of four feedlots, NO₃–N was below background concentration (4.1 mg kg^–1) for the entire profile whereas one feedlot had a >75 mg kg^–1 increase from the background concentration in the top 1.0 m. Considering expected nutrient deposition onto the pen surface only a fraction of the nutrients were found beneath feedlot pen surfaces. While in use, these feedlots do not appear to have a high potential for groundwater contamination from NO₃–N leaching. However, if they were to become inactive NO₃–N may increase and could leach into groundwater. Upon closing of the feedlots, the land could be largely remediated by removing the top 0.25 m of pen surface, a zone holding 48% of total profile N.