|
ICS Research
|
Staff of Colonial SWCD, Cooperative Extension, and
Virginia Tech regularly collaborate in research with area farmers to
quantify the multitude of benefits to ICS. Results continue to
validate the economic and environmental advantages of the management
system.
In 2000, the partnership secured competitive grant funds to continue
research on ICS in the form of rainfall simulator plots. Dr. Blake
Ross, Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech,
organized and conducted the research. Additional demonstrations
using the rainfall simulator were coordinated as part of the Virginia Ag
Expo, held at Renwood and Riverside Farms in Charles City, Virginia.
Plot areas of 7.5% slope were subjected to several five-year storm
events. The plots compared long-term (ten years) ICS and clean-tilled
conventional small grain practices. This research clearly demonstrated
the reductions achieved by ICS.
|
ICS Demo Plot
Soil is shielded by crop residue. Run-off contains little
to no soil.
|
These
images demonstrate the difference in stormwater run-off from two
agricultural research plots.
The photos (taken within seconds of each other)
illustrate run-off from land subjected to artificial rainfall equivalent to a 5-year storm event (a
storm of such magnitude that it only occurs once every five years) .
The machine on the platform is measuring the volume
of water flowing through the trough.
|
Conventional Demo Plot
Soil is not protected by crop residue and is washed away by the
heavy rain. |
RESULTS
| Average
measured runoff, sediment yield, and nutrient losses by treatment on an
areal basis (percent reductions relative to Treatment A in parentheses)
- Renwood Farm, Charles City County, Virginia: August 9 - 10, 2000. |
|
Treatment *
( plot #s ) |
|
Runoff
( cu. Ft/ac ) |
|
Sediment
( lb/ac ) |
|
Nitrogen
( lb/ac ) |
|
Phosphorus
( lb/ac ) |
|
A ( 1 & 8 ) |
|
6506 |
(
- ) |
|
3176.3 |
(
- ) |
|
9.17 |
(
- ) |
|
3.65 |
(
- ) |
|
B ( 2 & 6 ) |
|
1547 |
(
76.2 ) |
|
30.5 |
(
99.0 ) |
|
0.54 |
(
94.1 ) |
|
0.38 |
(
89.6 ) |
|
C ( 3 & 7 ) |
|
2014 |
(
69.0 ) |
|
18.5 |
(
99.4 ) |
|
0.49 |
(
94.7 ) |
|
0.27 |
(
92.6 ) |
|
D ( 4 & 9 ) |
|
1573 |
(
75.8 ) |
|
5.4 |
(
94.9 ) |
|
0.47 |
(
94.9 ) |
|
0.26 |
(
92.9 ) |
|
E ( 5 & 10 ) |
|
1373 |
(
78.9 ) |
|
16.0 |
(
99.5 ) |
|
0.46 |
(
95.0 ) |
|
0.25 |
(
93.2 ) |
|
* Treatments: A– fertilizer, plowed; B– litter, no-till; C–
control, no-till; D– fertilizer, no-till subsoiled; E– fertilizer,
no-till
|
|
