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Hydrology and Nutrient Movement of a Windrow of Dairy Bedding/Leaf Mulch Compost

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  032190,  2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.14957) @2003
Authors:   Rose Mary Seymour, Michael Bourdon
Keywords:   Compost, nitrogen, phosphorus, dairy manure, leaf waste

Windrows of compost were placed on a test bed to capture the runoff and effluent leaching through the compost windrows. Samples of the runoff and leachate were captured separately during 6 rainfall events. Rainfall, flow of leachate and runoff from the windrows were measured for each event. Samples of leachate and runoff were analyzed for chemical the constituents of nitrate-nitrogen, ammonium-nitrogen, organic nitrogen, dissolved phosphorus, potassium, pH and total suspended solids. The runoff was also tested for biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. Results indicated that nutrient movement from the compost varied greatly with rainfall event characteristics and the age of the compost. Nitrate-N concentration in leachate varied from 1.8 to 120 mg/L while nitrate-N concentrations from runoff ranged from 0.1 to 6.7 mg/L. Both phosphorus and potassium concentrations were higher in the leachate below the windrows than in the runoff.

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