Contour ripping is more beneficial than composted manure for restoring degraded rangelands in Central Texas.

Rangelands in the United States that have been the site of military training exercises have suffered extensive ecological damage, largely because of soil compaction, creation of ruts, and damage to or destruction of vegetation--all of which lead to higher runoff and accelerated erosion. In this paper we report on a study carried out within the Fort Hood Military Reservation in Central Texas, where we evaluated the extent to which application of composted dairy manure and contour ripping affect soil infiltrability, amount of runoff, and nutrient concentrations in runoff. We conducted experiments at two locations, using rainfall simulation at one and monitoring discharge from small (0.3-ha) watersheds at the other. At the rainfall simulation site, we used six levels of compost application: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 Mg/ha. We found that compost application had little effect on runoff, soil infiltration, sediment production, or nutrient concentrations in the runoff--except at the micro-watershed scale (12 and 24 Mg/ha); in this case, nutrient concentrations in runoff were initially high (for the rainfall simulations done immediately after compost application). In contrast, contour ripping--carried out 22 months after compost application on two of the micro-watersheds--was highly effective: runoff on the treated micro-watershed was reduced by half compared with the untreated micro-watershed. Our results suggest that (1) one-time applications of composted dairy manure do little to enhance infiltration of degraded rangelands over the short term (at the same time, these experiments demonstrated that compost application poses very little risk to water quality); and (2) for degraded rangelands with limited infiltration capacity, contour ripping is an effective strategy for increasing infiltration rates.

Pathogen prevalence and influence of composted dairy manure application on antimicrobial resistance profiles of commensal soil bacteria.

Composting manure, if done properly, should kill pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7, providing for an environmentally safe product. Over a 3-year period, samples of composted dairy manure, representing 11 composting operations (two to six samples per producer; 100 total samples), were screened for Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 and were all culture negative. Nonpathogenic bacteria were cultured from these compost samples that could theoretically facilitate the spread of antimicrobial resistance from the dairy to compost application sites. Therefore, we collected soil samples (three samples per plot; 10 plots/treatment; 90 total samples) from rangeland that received either composted dairy manure (CP), commercial fertilizer (F), or no treatment (control, CON). Two collections were made appoximately 2 and 7 months following treatment application. Soil samples were cultured for Pseudomonas and Enterobacter and confirmed isolates subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Three species of Enterobacter (cloacae, 27 isolates; aeroginosa, two isolates; sakazakii, one isolate) and two species of Pseudomonas (aeruginosa, 11 isolates; putida, seven isolates) were identified. Five Enterobacter isolates were resistant to ampicillin and one isolate was resistant to spectinomycin. All Pseudomonas isolates were resistant to ampicillin, ceftiofur, florfenicol, sulphachloropyridazine, sulphadimethoxine, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and most isolates were resistant to chlortetracycline and spectinomycin. Pseudomonas isolates were resistant to an average of 8.6, 7.9, and 8 antibiotics for CON, CP, and F treatments, respectively. No treatment differences were observed in antimicrobial resistance patterns in any of the soil isolates examined. Results reported herein support the use of composted dairy manure as an environmentally friendly soil amendment.

Evaluation of removal of orthophosphate and ammonia from rainfall runoff using aboveground permeable reactive barrier composed of limestone and zeolite.

This paper evaluates the design and performance of an Aboveground Permeable Reactive Barrier (APRB) system made of polyethylene mesh bags (FlowBags) containing crushed limestone and zeolite for adsorption of orthophosphate-P (PO4-P) and ammonia-N (NH4-N) from rainfall runoff. Laboratory batch experiments, simulated runoff experiments and actual APRB implementations were performed to evaluate the performance of the APRB. Batch experiments were performed to determine adsorption efficiency of crushed zeolite and limestone as reactive materials in APRB for removal of dissolved ammonium nitrogen and orthophosphate phosphorus from aqueous solutions under controlled laboratory conditions. Adsorption efficiencies of zeolite and limestone were tested individually and in combination. Results show adsorption efficiency increases when the materials are used in combination. Effects of particle size, contact time, pH, and temperature were studied. Major emphasis was given to short contact times because the contact of rainfall runoff water under field conditions with APRBs would be approximately 5 minutes. Maximum removal of approximately 70% PO4-P and NH4-N was seen at 45 degrees C in 5 minutes within a pH range of 8-11. Optimum adsorbent concentration was 0.3 ppm with 20 g limestone and 10 g of zeolites. Simulated field experiments and actual APRB field installations showed variable results. Results from field evaluations of APRB showed mixed results from very high to negligible removal of orthophosphate-P and ammonia-N at different monitoring sites and storm events. Such variability may be due to the design of the bags, other biotic and abiotic factors and various physical factors, which are absent in the laboratory conditions. Some APRB design problems were also observed under field conditions and solutions are suggested. Overall results indicate that APRBs composed of combinations of crushed zeolite and limestone will offer an effective low maintenance and green alternative to remove dissolved nutrients from runoff and protect surface water resources from eutrophication.