Information
Level 2 Detail of experimental conditions (what might be found in a journal paper or project brief in Hydstra)
Description of study
What?
Sediment, nutrient and pesticide movement from rainfall and irrigation runoff were monitored over two seasons at a paddock scale of 30 Ha for the three treatments (detailed below) and an adjacent conventional cotton treatment.
When and Where?
The experimental site was located on the Emerald Research Station in central Queensland and commenced in October 1997. In year two of the project a further site was used in northern NSW (see separate literature review).
Rainfall for the two seasons demonstrated the extremes of the Central Queensland environment. The total rainfall from July to June for 1997/98 was 386mm in the lowest 10% on record. In contrast the 1998/99 season produced above average rainfall, double the previous season (767mm).
How?
Paddock scale (25Ha) monitoring of sediment, nutrient and pesticide movement from rainfall and irrigation runoff, was carried out on two typical irrigated cotton farms. Two stage rectangular weirs were fitted at the tail drain outlet of two fields on two farms. Runoff depth was continuously logged at 2 minute intervals using ultrasonic transducers attached to monitor sensor data loggers. Sediment, nutrient and pesticide samples were collected on a flow weighted basis using Issco pumping samplers. Runoff, sediment nutrient and pesticides were monitored all year round and additional hand sampling was carried out during storm events. Rainfall was monitored using a monitor sensor pluviometer and data logger on a 1 minute interval. Detailed records of farming practices, irrigation practices, crop growth and entomology were recorded throughout the season.
For the filter strip treatment, vetiver grass was planted in two strips at the taildrain outlet perpendicular to the direction of water flow out of the tail drain. Plastic sheeting (10 x 20m) was placed 10m upstream, 0 m upstream and 10m downstream of the grass to assess the trapping efficiency of the grass. Deposited sediment remaining after rainfall and irrigation was weighed and sub samples collected for analysis of nutrient and pesticide concentrations.
Project administration
Site identifier code: N/A
Principal investigator: Waters D.
Principal data manager: N/A
Principal organizations: Cotton Research and Development Corporation, Department of Natural Resources and Mines
Data custodian: Department of Natural Resources and Mines
Key co-operators: N/A
Data access policy: Research has been published but base data is not archived
Planned pathway for data: completed study, no evidence of formal database records.
Data warehousing: for ongoing studies N/A
Planned data upload frequency: for ongoing studies N/A
Key references and sources of this data synthesis
These data summaries have been extracted from:
- Waters D. February 2001. Best management practices to minimise pollutant transport from cotton production systems. CRDC.
Keywords:
Sediment, runoff, soil erosion, nutrient, pesticide movement