Bioavailable P (BAP) in agricultural runoff represents P potentially available for algal uptake and consists of soluble P (SP) and a variable portion of participate P (PP). Evaluation of the impact of agricultural management on BAP in runoff will aid assessment of the resultant biological productivity of receiving water bodies. Soluble P, PP, and bioavailable PP (BPP) (estimated by NaOH extraction) were determined over a 5‐yr period in runoff from 20 unfertilized and fertilized, grassed, and cropped watersheds in the Southern Plains. Soluble P, BPP, and BAP loss in runoff was reduced by practices minimizing erosion and runoff, with respective mean annual amounts ranging from 237 to 122, 1559 to 54, and 1796 to 176 g P ha−1 yr−1 (for peanut‐sorghum [Arachis hypogaea L.‐Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and native grass watersheds, respectively). However, as vegetative cover improved, BAP (SP plus BPP) comprised a larger portion of total P (TP) loss (29% for peanut‐sorghum and 88% for native grass). This results from an increasing contribution to BAP of SP (13% for peanut‐sorghum and 69% for native grass watersheds) and BPP to PP (26% for peanut‐sorghum and 69% for native grass watersheds). Clearly, P bioavailability is a dynamic function of physiochemical processes controlling erosion, particle size enrichment, P desorption‐dissolution reactions, and plant residue breakdown, in addition to soil and fertilizer P management. Hence, the change in trophic state of a water body may not be adequately reflected by TP inputs only. To more reliably evaluate the biological response of a water body to agricultural P inputs, particularly from conservation tillage practices, it may be necessary to determine BAP in runoff.

With the rapid growth of the poultry industry in eastern Oklahoma, information is needed on the impact of land application of associated litter on the area's soil and water resources. The effect of broiler litter application on the N and P content was investigated by sampling 12 soil profiles to 150 cm under ‘Coastal’ bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] to which litter had been continually applied for 12 to 35 yr. Litter application averaged 6 Mg ha−1 yr−1 (dry wt.), which contributed approximate N and P amounts of 270 and 90 kg ha−1 yr−1. Adjacent soil profiles under idle native grass, which received no litter or mineral fertilizer, were sampled at the same time to a 150‐cm depth. On average, soil pH and organic C were 0.5 and 21 g kg−1 greater and bulk density 0.2 Mg m−3 lower in the surface 5 cm of treated than untreated soils. Below 25 cm, litter had little effect on these properties. The effect of poultry litter on N and P content was greatest in the surface 5 cm of soil, with NO3‐N and Bray‐I P (BP) averaging 49 and 188 mg kg−1 in treated and 13 and 9 mg kg−1 in untreated soils. Below 5 cm, N and P content decreased rapidly, with only slight NO3‐N accumulations (5 mg kg−1) between 50 and 100 cm and no movement of P below 30 cm observed. Poultry litter application decreased P sorption to a depth of 30 cm. Average 1.2‐ and 2.5‐fold increases in the total N and NO3‐N content of treated compared with untreated 0‐ to 100‐cm profiles were observed. For P, 2‐ and 13‐fold increases in total P and BP were found, with little accumulation as organic P. Overall, BP increased 22 mg kg−1 for each 100 kg P ha−1 added in litter. The greater portion of litter P (72%) than N (44%) retained in the soil profile reflects the differing sorption of these nutrients by soil, and greater plant uptake of N than P. It also emphasizes the need to carefully manage continual land applications of poultry litter to minimize potential environmental impacts.

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The contributions of disease escape and disease resistance to the responses of wheat to septoria tritici leaf blotch (STB) were analysed in a set of 226 lines, including modern cultivars, breeding lines and their progenitors dating back to the origin of scientific wheat breeding. Field trials were located in the important wheat-growing region of eastern England and were subject to natural infection by Mycosphaerella graminicola. STB scores were related to disease-escape traits, notably height, leaf spacing, leaf morphology and heading date, and to the presence of known Stb resistance genes and isolate-specific resistances. The Stb6 resistance gene was associated with a reduction of 19% in the level of STB in the complete set of 226 lines and with a 33% reduction in a subset of 139 lines of semidwarf stature. Greater plant height was strongly associated with reduced STB in the full set of lines, but only weakly in the semidwarf lines. Shorter leaf length was also associated with reduced STB, but, in contrast to earlier reports, lines with more prostrate leaves had more STB on average, probably because they tended to have longer leaves. Several lines, notably cvs Pastiche and Exsept, had low mean levels of STB which could not be explained by either escape traits or specific resistance genes, implying that they have unknown genes for partial resistance to STB.

Abstract-Drainage ditches are indispensable components of the agricultural production landscape. A benefit of these ditches is contaminant mitigation of agricultural storm runoff. This study determined bifenthrin and lambda-cyhalothrin (two pyrethroid insecticides) partitioning and retention in ditch water, sediment, and plant material as well as estimated necessary ditch length required for effective mitigation. A controlled-release runoff simulation was conducted on a 650-m vegetated drainage ditch in the Mississippi Delta, USA. Bifenthrin and lambda-cyhalothrin were released into the ditch in a water-sediment slurry. Samples of water, sediment, and plants were collected and analyzed for pyrethroid concentrations. Three hours following runoff initiation, inlet bifenthrin and lambda-cyhalothrin water concentrations ranged from 666 and 374 g/L, respectively, to 7.24 and 5.23 g/L at 200 m downstream. No chemical residues were detected at the 400-m sampling site. A similar trend was observed throughout the first 7 d of the study where water concentrations were elevated at the front end of the ditch (0-25 m) and greatly reduced by the 400-m sampling site. Regression formulas predicted that bifenthrin and lambda-cyhalothrin concentrations in ditch water were reduced to 0.1% of the initial value within 280 m. Mass balance calculations determined that ditch plants were the major sink and/or sorption site responsible for the rapid aqueous pyrethroid dissipation. By incorporating vegetated drainage ditches into a watershed management program, agriculture can continue to decrease potential non-point source threats to downstream aquatic receiving systems. Overall results of this study illustrate that aquatic macrophytes play an important role in the retention and distribution of pyrethroids in vegetated agricultural drainage ditches.

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Vegetated agricultural ditches play an important role in mitigation of pesticides following irrigation and storm runoff events. In a simulated runoff event in the Mississippi (USA) Delta, the mitigation capacity of a drainage ditch using the pyrethroid esfenvalerate (Asana XL) was evaluated. The pesticide was amended to soil prior to the runoff event to simulate actual runoff, ensuring the presence of esfenvalerate in both water and suspended particulate phases. Water, sediment, and plant samples were collected temporally and spatially along the drainage ditch. Even with mixing of the pesticide with soil before application, approximately 99% of measured esfenvalerate was associated with ditch vegetation (Ludwigia peploides, Polygonum amphibium, and Leersia oryzoides) three hours following event initiation. This trend continued for the 112 d study duration. Simple modeling results also suggest that aqueous concentrations of esfenvalerate could be mitigated to 0.1% of the initial exposure concentration within 510 m of a vegetated ditch. Observed field half-lives in water, sediment, and plant were 0.12 d, 9 d, and 1.3 d, respectively. These results validate the role vegetation plays in the mitigation of pesticides, and that ditches are an indispensable component of the agricultural production landscape.