Cranberry Station

Phosphorus in Cranberry Nutrient Management

Carolyn DeMoranvilleUMass Cranberry Station

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Why is this important?

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What have we done?

• Plot scale work to define P requirement– >0 but <22 kg

• Field-scale: Enlist growers to reduce well below 22 kg/ha (‘not to exceed’ level)

• Collect data from their farms – Crop yield– Tissue P– Water quality

• Use these data to make the case for others to adopt reduced P

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Results of surveys conducted in January 2008 (2007 season); January 2009 (2008 season); March 2010 (2009 season).

seasonManagement choice 2007 2008 2009

N:P P>N 36% 15%

N:P P no more than N 34% 61%

Plan to reduce P use next season 36%

Reduced P use 51% 65%

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Grower P reduction sites study

P rate in kg/ha

Site #P applied

2008P applied

2009P applied

2010P applied

2011 P applied

2012

1 6.6 8.4 10.0 12.3 10.9

2 8.5 9.9 8.2 11.2 8.2

3 8.2 0.7 0.9 0.8 7.5

4 8.7 4.1 10.2 4.9 6.8

5 -- 8.6 5.6 8.3 16.0

6 14.1 8.5 8.4

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Through 2012 season

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Data from 2005-2011

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Standard range = 0.1 – 0.2%

  

  Tissue P % dry weight  

SiteAvg.

kg/ha P 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

1 8.3 0.13   0.12 0.13 0.10

2 8.8 0.16   0.09 0.16 0.13

3 2.7 0.13 0.15 0.11 0.15 0.11

4 7.0 0.15 0.16 0.13 0.16 0.12

5 7.5   0.14 0.11 0.12 0.13

6 10.3   0.14   0.12  

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Comparison of TP in floodreleases

Years of P reductionSite 2009 2010 2011

1 7 8 92 5 6 73 2 3 44 2 3 45 1 2 36 3 4 5

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Harvest flood P concentrations

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Winter flood P concentrations

Note: scale is 10x less than for harvest flood

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Harvest flood

1 acre-foot = 1233 m31 lb = 0.45 kg

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Change (kg/ha released)

Harvest Winter

Year 1 2.92 1.77

Year 7 0.48 ---

Year 8 0.68 0.20

Year 9 0.51 0.19

Applied P

Pre-2003 = 22 kg/ha

Avg. starting 2003 = 11 kg/ha

Site 1

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Potential impact

Site 1 Bog is ~25 ha In 2003, the 2 floods (winter/harvest) contained

117 kg P 8 years later, the floods contained 17 kg P 85% reduction

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Next steps

Continue and expand monitoring study, recruit growers to use 5 kg/ha P

Large grant to begin to install and evaluate methods to remove or minimize P from discharge water – filters, other BMPs

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Questions?

Cranberry Bog Total Phosphorus

CES/SMASTField Expt.

TP Fertilization

(kg/ha/yr)

TPincoming (kg/ha/yr)

TP leaving (kg/ha/yr)

TP export

(net)(kg/ha/yr)

Bog ID Mean 2003-04

EH 11.2 0.3 4.5 4.2

PV 22.2 1.8 8.5 6.8

BEN 18.8 1.2 3.9 2.7

WS 19.6 0.2 5.5 5.3

M-K 23.1 2.0 3.2 1.2

ASH 39.3 1.8 3.4 1.7

Mean 22.4 1.22 4.83 3.65

A Flow-through Bog was found to have a higher A Flow-through Bog was found to have a higher annual TP loss of 9.9 kg/ha/yr (Howes & Teal annual TP loss of 9.9 kg/ha/yr (Howes & Teal 1995)1995)

18Cranberry Station

Yield (Mg/ha) comparison of 4 or 6 years prior to that in 2008-2011

SiteP 2008-2011

(kg/ha/yr)4 years prior

yield6 years

prior yield2008-2011

average

1 8.3* 17.1 23.9

2 8.8* 17.4 25.8

3 2.7 12.9 14.4

4 7.0 19.9 23.4

6 7.5** ? 22.3**

7 10.3* 17.4 18.0*

**2009-2011*2008-2010