New phosphorus losses via tile drainage depend on fertilizer form, placement, and timing

Agricultural phosphorus (P) losses are harmful to water quality, but knowledge gaps about the importance of fertilizer management practices on new (recently applied) sources of P may limit P loss mitigation efforts. Weighted regression models applied to subsurface tile drainage water quality data enabled estimating the new P losses associated with 155 P applications in Ohio and Indiana, USA. Daily discharge and dissolved reactive P (DRP) and total P (TP) loads were used to detect increases in P loss following each application which was considered new P. The magnitude of new P losses was small relative to fertilizer application rates, averaging 79.3 g DRP ha−1 and 96.1 g TP ha−1, or <3% of P applied. The eight largest new P losses surpassed 330 g DRP ha−1 or 575 g TP ha−1. New P loss mitigation strategies should focus on broadcast liquid manure applications; on average, manure applications caused greater new P losses than inorganic fertilizers, and surface broadcast applications were associated with greater new P losses than injected or incorporated applications. Late fall applications risked having large new P losses applications. On an annual basis, new P contributed an average of 14% of DRP and 5% of TP losses from tile drains, which is much less than previous studies that included surface runoff, suggesting that tile drainage is relatively buffered with regard to new P losses. Therefore old (preexisting soil P) P sources dominated tile drain P losses, and P loss reduction efforts will need to address this source.
Fertilizer management strategies may or may not be effective for addressing tile drainage phosphorus (P) losses. We analyzed P loss data from tile drainage systems in Ohio and Indiana to estimate the newly applied P lost from >150 P fertilizer or manure applications. The amount of new P lost was small relative to the amount applied. Applications to the soil surface had a greater risk of new P loss than subsurface applications. Manure applications and several of the late fall applications were also associated with greater new P loss. New P accounted for <15% of the overall P lost, so old soil P was the primary source of tile drain P loss and must be addressed to achieve large P loss reductions.