NUTRIENT LOSSES AND THEIR IMPACT ON WATER QUALITY AT SELECTED LAND SLOPES UNDER SIMULATED RAINFALL CONDITIONS

SOURABH NEMA¹*, AKHILESH KUMAR^2
1Department of Soil & Water Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur, M.P., 482004, India
²Department of Soil & Water Conservation Engineering, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, U.K. 263145, India
* Corresponding Author : sourabh.nema@gmail.com

Received : 08-06-2016     Accepted : 16-06-2016     Published : 03-10-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 43       Pages : 1874 - 1876
Int J Agr Sci 8.43 (2016):1874-1876

Keywords : Rainfall Simulator¸ Nutrient loss, Water Quality, Land Slope, Runoff
Academic Editor : Dr. Jitendra Sinha
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : None declared
Author Contribution : None declared

Rainfall is the major causing agent, which leads to the transportation of soil particles and environmental pollutants along with surface runoff. The study was carried out in laboratory conditions to evaluate the nutrient losses on experimental fields resulting from a rainfall event which was scheduled post 24 h after fertilizer application and an assessment was also done to check the subsequent impact of nutrient losses on surface runoff water quality. The three scenario of field land slopes (i.e. 2%, 4% and 6%) were considered for the experimental investigations to observe the nutrient losses under simulated rainfall intensities of 9 cm/h, 13 cm/h and 17 cm/h. The rate of nutrient losses (i.e. N, P, and K) were found to be increasing with rainfall intensity for all selected land slopes. The rainfall intensity was found to have a predominant effect on nutrient losses as compared to land slope. The observed values of electrical conductivity (EC) and pH of runoff water were found to have a positive correlation with nutrient loss and showed increasing trend with the increase in rainfall intensity and land slope.